Wang Qiulan, Wang Mu, Li Shengpu, Xing Xiaobo, Liu Xiao, Dong Shisong, Cai Jiye
Department of Chemistry, Life Science and Technology College, Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510632, People's Republic of China.
Scanning. 2012 Jan-Feb;34(1):60-7. doi: 10.1002/sca.20258. Epub 2011 Jul 27.
B-lymphocyte activation plays an important role in humoral immune system, and its process has been studied well in vivo and in vitro. However, the ultrastructure and adhesion property changes remain unclear. In this study, changes in the morphology and mechanical properties of human peripheral blood B lymphocytes were first studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM). B lymphocytes were treated with the mitogen, pokeweed mitogen (PWM), and Staphylococcus aureus Cowan strain I (SAC) for 24 hr. After B lymphocyte is stimulated by the mitogen, the cell height, diameter, and volume are changed in different degree. The ultrastructure of the B lymphocytes membrane obviously displayed proteins gathering, corresponding with larger changes of average roughness and mean height of particles on cell membrane. Meanwhile, we detected the adhesion force of B lymphocytes after being stimulated by PWM and SAC. We found that the treated cells had a higher adhesion force of 304.16 ± 60.30 pN (PWM) and 249.63 ± 58.03 pN (SAC) than that of control group (104.28 ± 21.77 pN). Therefore, our results could provide new information to further understand the B-lymphocyte activation process and their structure-function analyses.
B淋巴细胞活化在体液免疫系统中发挥着重要作用，其过程已在体内和体外得到了充分研究。然而，其超微结构和黏附特性的变化仍不清楚。在本研究中，首先通过原子力显微镜（AFM）研究了人外周血B淋巴细胞形态和力学性能的变化。用促有丝分裂原、商陆有丝分裂原（PWM）和金黄色葡萄球菌Cowan I株（SAC）处理B淋巴细胞24小时。B淋巴细胞受到促有丝分裂原刺激后，细胞高度、直径和体积均有不同程度的变化。B淋巴细胞膜的超微结构明显显示出蛋白质聚集，这与细胞膜上颗粒的平均粗糙度和平均高度的较大变化相对应。同时，我们检测了PWM和SAC刺激后B淋巴细胞的黏附力。我们发现，处理后的细胞具有更高的黏附力，PWM处理组为304.16±60.30 pN，SAC处理组为249.63±58.03 pN，高于对照组（104.28±21.77 pN）。因此，我们的结果可为进一步了解B淋巴细胞活化过程及其结构-功能分析提供新的信息。
