| Research Abstract |
The project as to ultrastructural analysis of the interaction between vascular endothelial cells and leukocytes in immunological reaction, which had been carried out from 1992 to 1994, has produced the following results.
In orthotopic liver transplantation and lymph node transplantation, leukocytes interacted with endothelial cells actively. It was folloewed by formation of specific ultrastructures in both cells, e.g.filamentous bridges and high density of the cell membrane. Endothelial cells, which were associated with these phenomena, are characterized by well developed Golgi apparatus, which leads to the idea that glycoproteins play an important role in this interacion.
To detect glycoproteins, e.g.adhesion molecules immunohistochemically and three-dimensionally, a new method is developed here. One feature of this method was that immunoreaction for EM (electron microscopy) preparation is finished in UW solution, organ preserving solution, before fixation. After the reaction, usual treatment for EM is possible and has guaranteed simultanous comparison between transmission EM and scanning EM and good preservation of ultrastrucure as well.
The method disclosed that intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM-1) expressed exclusively in processes and folds of high endothelial venule (HEV) cells. These structures combined with ICAM-1 functioned to trap lymphocytes, because lymphocytes often dropped into the furrows between folds and adhered to them.
Finally as one conclusion from this project, though cell-to-cell interaction in in vivo immunological reaction is accomplished through interaction of adhesion molecules, ultarastructural changes of the cell membrane promate this interaction. To understand dynamism of cell-to-cell interaction, it is necessary to know not only whether molecules express or not, but also where they express in one cell three-dimensionally.
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