The morphology, deformability and microvascular arrest of rat fibrosarcoma and adenocarcinoma cells

The deformation and flow properties of tumour cells may play a role in their arrest in the microvasculature of different organs. In the present investigation the morphology, deformability and microvascular arrest in the liver of rat fibrosarcoma cells (FSCs) and adenocarcinoma cells (ACCs) were compared using electron microscopy, deformability measurements in narrow glass pipettes and isotope-labelling techniques. The ACCs had a larger mean diameter (13.9 microns) than the FSCs (10.9 microns) and showed a slower rate of deformation into 6.5 microns glass pipettes. A significantly larger percentage of ACCSs (52.4%) than of FSCs (19.9%) remained in the livers 5 min after intraportal injection. The results indicate that for the particular tumour cells studied here, there exists a relationship between cell deformability and the tendency for microvascular trapping in the liver, i.e. less deformable cells have a greater tendency for retention in the liver.