Cell adhesion is a fundamental phenomenon vital for all multicellular organisms. Recognition of and adhesion to specific macromolecules is a crucial task of leukocytes to initiate the immune response. To gain statistically reliable information of cell adhesion, large numbers of cells should be measured. However, direct measurement of the adhesion force of single cells is still challenging and today’s techniques typically have an extremely low throughput (5–10 cells per day). Here, we introduce a computer controlled micropipette mounted onto a normal inverted microscope for probing single cell interactions with specific macromolecules. We calculated the estimated hydrodynamic lifting force acting on target cells by the numerical simulation of the flow at the micropipette tip. The adhesion force of surface attached cells could be accurately probed by repeating the pick-up process with increasing vacuum applied in the pipette positioned above the cell under investigation. Using the introduced methodology hundreds of cells adhered to specific macromolecules were measured one by one in a relatively short period of time (∼30 min). We blocked nonspecific cell adhesion by the protein non-adhesive PLL-g-PEG polymer. We found that human primary monocytes are less adherent to fibrinogen than their in vitro differentiated descendants: macrophages and dendritic cells, the latter producing the highest average adhesion force. Validation of the here introduced method was achieved by the hydrostatic step-pressure micropipette manipulation technique. Additionally the result was reinforced in standard microfluidic shear stress channels. Nevertheless, automated micropipette gave higher sensitivity and less side-effect than the shear stress channel. Using our technique, the probed single cells can be easily picked up and further investigated by other techniques; a definite advantage of the computer controlled micropipette. Our experiments revealed the existence of a sub-population of strongly fibrinogen adherent cells appearing in macrophages and highly represented in dendritic cells, but not observed in monocytes.
Adhesion and spreading of primary monocytes isolated from human blood were monitored utilizing optical waveguide lightmode spectroscopy (OWLS); a highly sensitive label-free biosensor technique using evanescent optical waves generated at a biocompatible surface.Appropriate development on a custom built setup enabled the OWLS cuvette to be operated as a 1.5 ml mini-incubator, controlling both temperature and CO 2 levels. The incubator-equipped OWLS is readily applicable for delicate and long-term studies on sensitive primary cells, demonstrated here through monitoring the serum dependence of the adhesion and spreading of human monocytes. Moreover, the custom-built setup enables the simultaneous monitoring of the position and overall width of the OWLS resonant peaks. This unique feature makes it possible to distinguish the refractive index variations induced by the adsorption of secreted material from refractive index changes provoked by cellular spreading. A definite attachment and spreading activity was observed on the substratum (glassy silica-titania), when the serum level of the culturing medium was 0.0-0.01%.Increasing serum concentration resulted in a steep fall in monocyte surface adhesion and spreading. 1.0% serum level practically abolished all spreading activity measured by OWLS, and the number of attached cells was significantly decreased, too. Serum addition to fully spread cells provoked a reduction in the cell-substratum contact area, clearly detectable by the biosensor. Cell spreading was inhibited by pre-coating the sensor surface with considerable amounts of serum proteins. These findings suggest that monocyte spreading is inhibited by the adsorption of serum biomolecules to the substratum, rather than by soluble factors present in the serum. All of these results were obtained completely non-invasively with real time monitoring; demonstrating the capabilities of OWLS to sensitively monitor the adhesion properties of immune cells isolated from human blood. 3The current study is, therefore, a significant step towards the application of label-free optical biosensors in medical diagnostics.
Automated manipulation and sorting of single cells are challenging, when intact cells are needed for further investigations, e.g., RNA or DNA sequencing. We applied a computer controlled micropipette on a microscope admitting 80 PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) tubes to be filled with single cells in a cycle. Due to the Laplace pressure, fluid starts to flow out from the micropipette only above a critical pressure preventing the precise control of drop volume in the submicroliter range. We found an anomalous pressure additive to the Laplace pressure that we attribute to the evaporation of the drop. We have overcome the problem of the critical dropping pressure with sequentially operated fast fluidic valves timed with a millisecond precision. Minimum drop volume was 0.4–0.7 μl with a sorting speed of 15–20 s per cell. After picking NE-4C neuroectodermal mouse stem cells and human primary monocytes from a standard plastic Petri dish we could gently deposit single cells inside tiny drops. 94 ± 3% and 54 ± 7% of the deposited drops contained single cells for NE-4C and monocytes, respectively. 7.5 ± 4% of the drops contained multiple cells in case of monocytes. Remaining drops were empty. Number of cells deposited in a drop could be documented by imaging the Petri dish before and after sorting. We tuned the adhesion force of cells to make the manipulation successful without the application of microstructures for trapping cells on the surface. We propose that our straightforward and flexible setup opens an avenue for single cell isolation, critically needed for the rapidly growing field of single cell biology.
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