I am working with human leukocytes but know rather little about them (I am a chemist) and I cannot seem to find the information concerning various properties of leukocytes anywhere. Hence I have some questions that I hope you can answer.
First of all, what is the membrane charge of the various leukocytes and how is this chage affected by the surrounding medium environment (pH, temperature, etc)?
Secondly I wonder, what would an average height of a monocyte be if the cells in question are adhered to glass surface with poly(D)-lysine (PDL)? I do understand that the height may vary as the cell stretches and tries to move, but is there any rough estimate on how high they can be?
Lastly I wonder if there is any variation in the pinocytotic activity between the different leukocyte types? If yes, then what is the variation?
Any pointers to literature and other sources on leukocytes are most welcome as well!
Hallo,
leukocytes are quite variable depending on what subtype you want to look at and what species.
1) In general, for sure the membrane charge is depending on the local(!) pH which can vary with activation state - it will depend mainly on the sulfation pattern on the glycosylated surface proteins: I can quickly give you only an endothelial cell review I liked on that topic:
Weinbaum et al., The structure and function of the endothelial glycocalyx layer. Annu Rev Biomed. 2007
2.) with respect to height of an attached monocyte, a rough and reliable measure is the diameter of the nucleus (3-6micrometer) which is the highest 'protrusion' of the cell migrating.
3.) PMN and activated macrophages are highly pinocytotic, lymphocytes much less so. It depends a lot on the activation state of the leukocyte in question.
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