THE ROLE OF SPECIFIC SURFACE ANTIGENS IN CELL ADHESION. PART I. THE REAGGREGATION OF SPONGE CELLS

¹ Department of Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, N. Y., and The Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

1. An investigation of the substances that bind adjacent cell surfaces together is reported here, using two species of sponge, Microciona prolifera and Cliona celata. Antisera were made, in rabbits, to cell suspensions of each species and to a mixture of cells of both species.

2. Reaggregation of dissociated cells was reversibly inhibited in the homologous antiserum. In normal serum containing cells of both species, the cells sort out to form aggregates consisting entirely of either one species or of the other, never of both species. In an antiserum vs. both species, large aggregates were observed which consisted of cells of both species distributed at random throughout each aggregate.

3. Calcium-free and high calcium media had no effect on reaggregation.

4. The results are compatible with the Tyler-Weiss hypothesis that contiguous cell surfaces are normally held together by forces like those between antigens and homologous antibodies.