Abstract
The effect of altered gravity on single cells has been reported in a number of studies. From the investigation of the immune system response to spaceflight conditions, interest has focused on the influence of gravity on single lymphocytes. Microgravity has been shown to decrease lymphocyte activation and to influence motility. On the other hand, the effect of hypergravity on lymphocyte motility has not been explored. We studied the migration of human peripheral blood T lymphocytes cultured in vitro in a hypergravity environment (10g). After hypergravity culture for 1–11 days, T cells were seeded on a fibronectin-coated glass surface, observed by time-lapse bright-field microscopy, and tracked by a computer program. We found that T cells, activated and then cultured in hypergravity, become motile earlier than cells cultured at normal gravity. These results suggest that hypergravity stimulates T cell migration.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Proto Pippia (University of Sassari, Italy), and Alamelu Sundaresan (NASA/Johnson Space center, USA) for useful discussion and suggestions. I. M. Tolić-Nørrelykke acknowledges support from the Italian Space Agency (ASI; research contract I/R/333/02). This work was also supported by the PRIN 2003 project of the Italian Minister of University and Research (MIUR), the LENS contract HPRI-CT-1999-00111 CE, and the Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze.
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Galimberti, M., Tolić-Nørrelykke, I.M., Favillini, R. et al. Hypergravity speeds up the development of T-lymphocyte motility. Eur Biophys J 35, 393–400 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00249-006-0046-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00249-006-0046-x