Movement of polymorphonuclear leukocytes: an elastimetry analysis.

By utilizing the technique of cell elastimetry, which measures the negative pressure required to aspirate human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) into a micropipette, a correlation between PMN deformability and cellular movement is confirmed. The effects of the synthetic chemotactic peptide, N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (f-met-leu-phe) on the deformability and chemotaxis of PMNs have been investigated, and a relationship between peptide concentrations and PMN deformability, which parallels the effects of the peptide on filter (chemotactic) studies, has been established. Experimental evidences indicate that alterations in PMN deformability occur as a natural consequence of stimulation of PMNs with a chemoattractant and that cellular deformation is a prerequisite to PMN movement. Introduction of this analytical technique into the study of PMN movement disorders has already yielded significant insights which implicate a membrane-associated abnormality intrinsic to the impaired motility of neonatal PMNs. This technique can, therefore, serve to provide a sensitive probe with which to dissect the various perturbations of PMN dysfunction. Cell elastimetry can also be utilized to generate quantitative information on mechanical and deformability properties of PMNs; such information is needed for the establishment of a rheological model (for PMNs) which can assist the analysis of almost every functional problem involving PMNs.