A new procedure to analyse the role of adhesion to solid substrata and of motility in chemokinesis of neutrophil granulocytes.

The role of crawling movements and of adhesion to the substratum in chemokinetic responses of neutrophil granulocytes is determined by a new procedure. The results show that this type of analysis is required to understand complex chemokinetic responses. Human serum albumin (HSA) was found to exert its chemokinetic effect exclusively by modulating adhesion to the substratum. In contrast, the positive chemokinetic effect of f-Met-Leu-Phe (10(-8)M) is essentially due to its capacity to induce crawling-like movements, but depending on the test conditions it may or may not affect adhesion as well. The findings indicate that different mechanisms controlling chemokinesis may produce antagonistic effects on the rate of dislocation.