A biophysical approach to the adhesion of human gingival epithelial cells to tooth and glass surfaces

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Abstract
Isolated gingival cells and tooth particles carry a net negative charge as determined by particle electrophoresis in RPMI1630 medium with 10% calf serum. By use of colloid theory, computations of the average interaction forces between epithelial cells of human gingjva and tooth and glass surfaces were made, using the experimentally determined electrokinetic data.An experimental check for our computations was made by attempting to centrifuge cells through the computed “barriers” due to repulsion forces, which were equivalent to 1800 g for spherical cells. Relative centrifugal forces of 3,000 g were insufficient to bring the cells into close contact with glass or enamel surfaces, indicating that the computations underestimated the repulsive interactions between the cells and various surfaces, and that cells must exhibit some “escape” mechanism to adhere to these surfaces.The relevance of the in vitro system to the in vivo situation was discussed.