Journal of Cell Science, Vol 14, 197-202, Copyright © 1974 by Company of Biologists

Submitted on April 25, 1973

Cell Agglutination Mediated by Concanavalin A and the Dynamic State of the Cell Surface

¹ Department of Pathology, Okayama University Medical School Okayama 700, Japan

The binding of ¹³¹I-labelled concanavalin A (¹³¹I-Con A) to the cell surface has been studied in Ehrlich ascites tumour cells (EATC) and beef erythrocytes under various conditions. The binding of concanavalin A (Con A) to the cell surface was very specific and the available binding sites were saturated within a few minutes. The amount of ¹³¹I-Con A bound to EATC was 4.14 x 10⁷ molecules/cell at 37 °C and 2.12 x 10⁷ molecules/cell at 0 °C. Under these conditions, cell agglutination was observed only at 37 °C and not at 0 °C. However, the binding sites measured at 0 °C were also effective for agglutination at 37 °C. Beef erythrocytes were agglutinated by Con A only after treatment of cells with papain. The number of binding sites for Con A on the cell surface was decreased by this treatment to about half the number present on untreated cells. Various reagents such as colchicine, monoiodoacetic acid, dinitrophenol, rotenone, sodium azide and carboxyl cyanide-m-fluorophenylhydrazone (FCCP) had no effect on Con A-mediated cell agglutination. In contrast, periodate treatment produced a remarkable decrease in the agglutinability of cells. From these data, it is concluded that the cell agglutination induced by Con A was due to the topographical distribution of the surface receptors for the lectin, and not the result of energy-dependent or microtubule-dependent reaction processes. The number and the state of Con A receptors on the cell surface were in a dynamic condition, their conformation, orientation, and/or topographical distribution changing under different conditions.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. Gibson, M. Marquardt, and J. Gordon Cell rigidity: Effect on concanavalin A-mediated agglutinability of fibroblasts after fixation Science, July 4, 1975; 189(4196): 45 - 46. [Abstract] [PDF]