Investigation of Adhesive Intercellular Contacts of Neutrophils and Lymphocytes by Atomic Force Microscopy

Abstract—Atomic force microscopy was used to create a system for measuring intercellular adhesion. Scanning electron microscopy was applied to confirm that poly-L-lysine is the best substance for fixation of neutrophils and lymphocytes on the probe. It was shown that when one cell is fixed on the probe and the other one is fixed on the substrate surface it is possible to carry out relevant measurements of intercellular adhesion forces by FS spectroscopy. The intercellular adhesion forces of neutrophils and lymphocytes were measured. The adhesion forces of neutrophils and lymphocytes were 38.5 ± 13.7 pN and 35.6 ± 8.3 pN, respectively. Thus, adhesion of neutrophils is statistically significantly higher than adhesion of lymphocytes.