ROLES OF IMMOBILIZED GLYCOSYLATED PROTEINS AND LIPOPROTEIN(A) IN ADHESIVITY OF ENDOTHELIAL-CELLS - POSSIBLE IMPLICATIONS FOR ATHEROGENESIS

The adherence of peripheral blood monocytes to adult bovine endothelial cells grown to confluence in the microplates was studied. The microplates were coated with different proteins or used without special treatment. It was shown that endothelial cells seeded on immobilized glycosylated proteins (serum albumin or skin gelatin) adhered more monocytes than the cells grown on non-modified proteins. Endothelial cells grown in lipoprotein(a) coated wells bound more monocytes than the cells grown in non-treated microplates or in wells coated with low density lipoproteins (LDL). The effect of lipoprotein(a) coating could not be reproduced by treating the plates with plasminogen (as a homolog of apo(a)) or with a mixture of LDL and plasminogen. These results indicate that the composition of extracellular substrata has a profound effect on adhesive properties of cultured endothelial cells. The implications of these findings for atherogenesis and for the general aspects of regulation of cell adhesion are discussed. © 1992 Academic Press Ltd.