The surface structure of natural membrane of macrophages in water as studied by the scanning tunneling microscope

Abstract

STM may open a new way to probe the molecular structure of the lipids and proteins on the membrane of living cells. In this paper, the surface structure of noncoated membrane of microphages in water was studied by STM. We probed the lipids and proteins on the membrane before and after ConA was combined with the membrane receptors. Results with different patterns were obtained. An experiment with optical microscopic image analysis system has also been done.

The interaction of laminin and its membrane receptor on mouse macrophage membrane studied by STM and FRAP

“…STM measurement was made according to procedures previousty described [4,5]. To prepare base-plate, cover-glasses of 0.2 mm thickness were first covered with a 100 nm thin layer of carbon and then a 25 nm gold layer was spray-gilded on the carbon.…”

“…Laminin, a glycoprotein molecule constituting of a cross with a long arm and three shorter arms was used as a ligand [1,2] to react specifically with its receptor, an another kind of glycoprotein molecule embe dded in the membrane of mouse macrophage [3]. STM and FR AP were used to study the variation of structure state [4,5] and the lateral diffusion of protein on membrane surface of macrophage, hoping to obtain some useful information about the interaction of laminin and its membrane receptor.…”