Motion of polymorphonuclear leukocytes: theory of receptor redistribution and the frictional force on a moving cell.

As a cell moves over a surface, the distribution of membrane proteins that adhere to the surface will be changed relative to the distribution of these molecules on a static cell. Observations of this redistribution offer, in principle, evidence as to the mechanisms of membrane dynamics during cell locomotion. Toward extracting such information we present and analyze a mathematical model of receptor transport in the membrane by diffusion and convection, as affected by the making and breaking of the bonds between the receptors and the surface as the cell moves. We show that the disruption of receptor-surface bonds at the tail of the cell provides a mechanism by which the frictional force opposing a cell's motion is exerted, and calculate the magnitude of this force as a function of cell velocity. Assuming this to be the major contribution to the frictional force, we show that when the shear force on a cell is above a critical value it is no longer possible for the cell to slide across the surface. For such large forces, it is still possible for the cell to roll; alternatively the cell can be torn free of the surface. Our analysis of existing data on movement of polymorphonuclear leukocytes indicates that cell motion is not accompanied by a bulk flow of membrane from the front to the back of the cell. The data also indicate that cells do not tend to roll as they move over a surface under normal conditions. The data are most consistent with a model where the membrane as a whole is stationary but where receptors that bind to the surface become coupled to submembrane contractile proteins.