Departments of Cell Biology and Statistics, The University,

We have obtained data on the frequency of aggregates of different size classes and on the maximum aggregate diameter of lymphoid cells subjected to aggregation in the laminar shear field of a Couette viscometer. Maximum aggregate diameter reached a plateau level during aggregation. This plateau is considered to be the result of a balance between the hydrodynamic shear forces tending to resist the formation of aggregates, and the adhesive forces of the aggregated cells tending to resist dissociation. Stepwise increases in the shear rate produced aggregates of progressively smaller maximum diameter until the limiting (i.e. control equivalent) diameter was reached. Equations governing these stepwise changes in aggregate diameter were obtained by regression analysis, and an estimate of the force of dissociation (FB) was made from derived values of the critical shear rate. Thymocytes (Fv = 254 x io"0 N m-2/cell) were found to be more adhesive than lymphocytes (FB = 205 x io~G N m~2/cell), in agreement with current concepts. The observed data on aggregate frequency were seen to be of poor fit with a model of aggregation derived by collision analysis of the aggregation process. This led us to consider the possibility that all cells may not share the same probability of forming an adhesion. We thus derived further models of aggregation in which some fraction of the total cells was considered to have enhanced possibilities of a collision producing an adhesion. Of the models we considered, a ' 5 % preferred fraction offered best agreement with the experimental observations. We therefore conclude that the populations of cells studied in this report are not 'homogenous' in that some cells are more adhesive than others. Alterations in the percentage of the preferred fraction of cells will lead to different aggregate-frequency indices. Such changes might be expected to occur during the initial stages of carcinoma development