Cell-glass separation depends on salt concentration and valency: Measurements on Dictyostelium amoebae by finite aperture interferometry

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Abstract
Using pre-aggregation amoebae of the cellular slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum we have investigated the influence of cation concentration and valency on cell-glass separation. For computing the separation we used interference reflection microscopy and converted measured image irradiance to distance by finite aperture theory. Alterations in ionic strength caused virtually instantaneous reversible changes in the interference image due to changes in cell membrane-glass separation. In solutions containing monovalent cations, a change in ionic strength from 20 mM to 0.5 mM increased the separation of the plasmalemma from the glass by 60 nm. Divalent cations were better than monovalent cations at maintaining a small separation. Our results show that both divalent and trivalent cations adsorb to one or both of the interacting surfaces, in addition to acting as electrostatic double-layer counterions. The optical measurements also show that the cell membrane-glass gap is not reduced to zero by counterion screening; this is apparently due to the presence of a cell surface glycoprotein coat.