In vitro imaging technique of cell adhesion

It is the first object of this article to contribute a side-view imaging technique to investigate adhesion to a surface-immobilized ICAM-1 in shear flow, wherein T-leukemic Jurket cells have been used. A side view image has revealed that the cell adhesion on ICAM-1 under flow conditions in vitro is quasistratic. Changes in flow shear stress, cell deformability, or substrate ligand strength resulted in a significant change in the characteristic adhesion binding time and contact length. The elongation of cells in shear flow tempers hydrodynamic shear forces on the cell, which affects the transients in cell-surface adhesion. It is the second object to calculate a 3-D flow field with shear stress acting on an adherent cell based on the shape of the cell obtained from the image. The application of the side-view imaging technique and the image analysis may provide a practical assay to reveal fundamental behavior of a cell.