查看文章

A rheological in vitro system has been developed to study and quantify cellular adhesion under precisely defined external shear forces. The system is similar to a cone-and-plate viscosimeter. A rotating transparent cone produces both steady and pulsatile flow profiles on cultured cells. Direct visualization of cells by phase-contrast or fluorescence optics and connection of the optical system to a computer-controlled x/y-linear stage allows automatic recording of any point of the cell cultures. With the use of up to 12 individual rheological units, this setup allows the quantitative analysis of cell substrate adhesion by determination of cell detachment kinetics. Two examples of application of this rheological system have been studied. First, we show that the extracellular matrix protein laminin strongly increases endothelial cell adhesion under fluid shear stress. In a second approach, we obtained further support for the …