Glycosaminoglycans and the substrate attachment of murine myeloma, 3T3, and cutaneous fibrosarcoma cells.

The attachment of murine myeloma, 3T3, and cutaneous fibrosarcoma cells to substrates of either fibronectin, type I collagen, or two types of tissue culture plastic was examined in the presence and absence of specific exogenous glycosaminoglycans. Fibrosarcoma and 3T3 cells were found to be nondiscriminatory with respect to their avidity of attachment to substrates of either of the proteins or of conventional tissue culture plastic, whereas the myeloma cells attached significantly less well to a substrate of collagen than to the other two matrices. On tissue culture plastic and collagen the fibrosarcoma cells attached more rapidly than did the other two cell types. Selective and partial inhibition of cell attachment to type I collagen, and, to a lesser extent, fibronectin, occurred upon preincubating these substrates with the sulfated glycosaminoglycans, heparin and heparan sulfate, at concentrations of 1 to 100 micrograms/ml; for 3T3 cells heparin was significantly more inhibitory (mean maximal inhibition of approximately 40%) than were two heparan sulfate fractions. Attachment of fibrosarcoma and 3T3 cells to a nitrogenated tissue culture plastic surface with a net positive charge (Primaria) was nearly 50% inhibited by heparin at the higher concentration and to a lesser extent by the two heparin sulfate fractions. Myeloma cell attachment to this same substrate was inhibited, to a lesser degree, by all three sulfated glycosaminoglycans. Hyaluronic acid, dermatan sulfate, and chondroitin 6-sulfate were inactive in our attachment assays. We suggest that the functional role of glycosaminoglycans in substrate attachment may vary depending on the cell type and the matrix involved in the specific interaction. In particular, the net charge of the substrate appears to be an important factor, and on positively charged surfaces these substances may serve a greater function. However, since nearly complete abrogation of cell attachment should have been achievable by some of the exogenous preparations if cell surface sulfated glycosaminoglycans were to comprise the major cellular binding sites for matrices, we conclude that it is unlikely that these complex polysaccharides function as the principal determinant of simple cell attachment.