Journal
BLOOD
Volume 104, Issue 5, Pages 1396-1403Publisher
AMER SOC HEMATOLOGY
DOI: 10.1182/blood-2004-02-0437
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- NCRR NIH HHS [P20 RR 16437] Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Short microvilli cover the surfaces of circulating mammalian lymphocytes. The surfaces of monocytes and neutrophils are very different, containing ruffles as their predominant structure. In this study, we present the first quantitative characterization of lymphocyte microvilli. From analysis of scanning electron micrographs, we find that median microvillar length and surface density range from 0.3 to 0.4 mum and 2 to 4 microvilli/mum(2), respectively, on lymphocytes from a variety of sources. As with similar structures from other cells, lymphocyte microvilli contain parallel bundles of actin filaments. Lymphocyte microvilli rapidly disassemble when exposed to the actin-sequestering molecule, Latrunculin A. This disassembly parallels cellular actin filament depolymerization and is complete within 2 minutes, suggesting that lymphocyte microvilli undergo continuous assembly and disassembly. In contrast to previous reports suggesting lymphocyte microvillar density to be reduced on lymphocytes from Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS) patient, we find no such deficiency in either mouse or human WAS protein (WASp)-deficient lymphocytes. These results suggest that WASp is either not involved in or is redundant in the rapid dynamics of lymphocyte microvilli. (C) 2004 by The American Society of Hematology.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available