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Cellular Adhesiveness in Relation to the Invasiveness of Cancer: Electron Microscopy of Liver Perfused with a Chelating Agent^*

( Department of Pathology, University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pa.)

In view of previous work it was anticipated that lack of calcium on the cell surface might be correlated with ultramicroscopic structural changes. Such changes were looked for in rat livers perfused with a chelating agent (disodium ethylenediamine tetraacetate) to remove calcium from the cell surfaces. Livers so treated were compared by electron microscopy with normal livers.

In normal livers the cells were tightly apposed, with no visible intercellular cement substance. The surface membranes were calculated to be about 50 A in thickness, and the membranes of adjacent cells were separated from one another by 50 A.

In liver perfused with versenate, cells were no longer closely apposed but were separated to greater or lesser degree. In some instances the membranes were completely detached from the underlying cytoplasm, and even tended to disappear entirely.

These findings suggest a molecular bond of calcium between apposed cells, presumably by linkage of the calcium to the carboxyl groups of the proteins and to the phosphate groups of lipoids, as the basis of cellular adhesiveness.

^* This investigation was supported by Grant C-731 from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Public Health Service.

Received 4/ 7/54.