The lymphocyte plasma membrane: locus of control in the immune response

Polarization optical analysis of blood cell membranes

The present study deals with investigations of membrane structure using polarization topo-optical reactions. Polarization microscopy is a special field of biological submicroscopic morphology. It represents a powerful tool well able to reveal the features of organization of biological structures, and the regularity of macromolecules building cells and tissues - properties that cannot directly be studied by other approaches to complex biological systems. Only in "pure" systems can X-ray diffraction, or the analysis of circular dichroism and the dispersion of optical rotability provide data equivalent to those obtained by polarization microscopy in complex systems. One of the main drawbacks of molecular biology is that most information is relevant to isolated, purified particles or macromolecules. Thus, no conclusions can be drawn concerning the original arrangement of molecules. The gap between biochemical-biophysical and morphological approaches to molecular arrangement in complex structures is bridged by the polarization optical technique. As was pointed out in the introduction, polarization microscopy became a routine biological research method following the pioneering work of Romhányi. His enlightening topo-optical reactions (Romhányi 1960, 1963, 1966) were based on the oriented dye binding of the original charge carriers of regularly arranged tissue constituents. The second group of Romhányi's topo-optical reactions comprised procedures such as sulfation (Romhányi et al. 1973, 1974), the aldehyde-bisulfite-toluidine blue (ABT) reaction (Romhányi et al. 1974, 1975), the permanganate-bisulfite-toluidine blue (PBT) reaction (Fischer 1979, 1979a), and the sialic acid-specific reaction (Makovitzky 1980) all of which operate with induced dye-binding groups; i.e. dye-binding moieties on biological macromolecules are produced by specific chemical reactions.

Topo-optical reactions and polarization optical analysis of human lymphocytes

The latent birefringence of lymphocyte membranes of various species may readily be studied and analysed by various topo-optical reactions. The membranes of glutaraldehyde-fixed and PBS-washed lymphocytes show continuous birefringence with thiazine- and quinoline dyes. According to polarization optical analysis thiazine dye-stained cells are radially positive, whereas quinoline dye-stained cells are radially negative spherites, i.e. thiazine dye molecules are in a perpendicular, quinoline dye molecules in a parallel orientation relative to the membrane surface. These findings suggest that in lymphocyte membranes glycoproteins are primarily responsible for the topo-optical reactions. The actual conformational state of the glycoprotein components is a decisive factor not only in dye binding but also in the orientation of dye molecules. Heparin treatment directs attention to an important interaction between heparin and membrane glycoproteins. With the aid of the critical electrolyte concentration (CEC) technique we were able to demonstrate an ultrastructural differences between human erythrocyte and human lymphocyte membranes. After this procedure the birefringence of erythrocyte membranes was lost, whereas that of lymphocyte membranes did not change. There were no differences between the topo-optical reactions of T and B lymphocytes.

Human and murine tumours: changes in cell surface structures coded by the major histocompatibility complex region

Serological and structural changes of surface markers involved in immune reactions may occur in human and murine tumour systems. Thus nine out of twenty-one human tumour cell lines and SV40-transformed fibroblasts differed from autologous lymphoblastoid cells or fibroblasts in their reactivity with HLA alloantisera. H-2 antigens isolated from the murine tumour cells 6C3HED and TP1422, undergo structural changes. An alien HLA-B7 was detected in sera from two melanoma patients. The serologic activity of H-2 antigens was significantly increased in the serum and ascites fluid of tumour bearing mice. Additionally, human SV40-transformed fibroblasts acquire receptors for monkey red blood cells and the murine lymphosarcoma cells 6C3HED express receptors for sheep red blood cells.