Direct modification of the glycocalyx of a cultured muscle cell line by incorporation of foreign gangliosides and an integral membrane glycoprotein.

As part of a program to better understand the cause-or-effect nature of the relationship between cell surface carbohydrate and cell properties and behaviour, experiments have been carried out on direct modification of the glycocalyx of cultured cells. Modification was by incorporation of gangliosides and an integral membrane glycoprotein chosen to be dissimilar to species occurring naturally in the cell line. Two methods of incorporation were investigated: simple addition of the new components to the culture medium for various times, or assembly of the components into the walls of lipid vesicles which were subsequently fused with cells. Gangliosides from beef brain and glycophorin, the major human erythrocyte sialoglycoprotein, were successfully added to the surface of myoblasts in quantities sufficient to represent a significant perturbation. Changes in cell adhesion, morphology, and viability were observed which seem to be a direct result of glycocalyx modification.