Neutrophil string formation: hydrodynamic thresholding and cellular deformation during cell collisions.

Neutrophils unexpectedly display flow-enhanced adhesion (hydrodynamic thresholding) to L-selectin in rolling or aggregation assays. We report that the primary collision efficiency (epsilon) of flowing neutrophils with preadhered neutrophils on intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) or fibrinogen also displayed a maximum of epsilon approximately 0.4-0.45 at a wall shear rate of 100 s(-1), an example of thresholding. Primary collision lifetime with no detectable bonding decreased from 130 to 10 ms as wall shear rate increased from 30 to 300 s(-1), whereas collision lifetimes with bonding decreased from 300 to 100 ms over this shear range using preadhered neutrophils on ICAM-1, with similar results for fibrinogen. Antibodies against L-selectin, but not against CD11a, CD11b, or CD18, reduced epsilon at 100 s(-1) by >85%. High resolution imaging detected large scale deformation of the flowing neutrophil during the collision at 100 s(-1) with the apparent contact area increasing up to approximately 40 microm(2). We observed the formation of long linear string assemblies of neutrophils downstream of neutrophils preadhered to ICAM-1, but not fibrinogen, with a maximum in string formation at 100 s(-1). Secondary capture events to the ICAM-1 or fibrinogen coated surfaces after primary collisions were infrequent and short lived, typically lasting from 500 to 3500 ms. Between 5 and 20% of neutrophil interactions with ICAM-1 substrate converted to firm arrest (>3500 ms) and greatly exceeded that observed for fibrinogen, thus defining the root cause of poor string formation on fibrinogen at all shear rates. Additionally, neutrophils mobilized calcium after incorporation into strings. Static adhesion also caused calcium mobilization, as did the subsequent onset of flow. To our knowledge, this is the first report of 1). hydrodynamic thresholding in neutrophil string formation; 2). string formation on ICAM-1 but not on fibrinogen; 3). large cellular deformation due to collisions at a venous shear rate; and 4), mechanosensing through neutrophil beta(2)-integrin/adhesion. The increased contact area during deformation was likely responsible for the hydrodynamic threshold observed in the primary collision efficiency since no increase in primary collision lifetime was detected as shear forces were increased (for either surface coating).