[Cinematics of fibroblast spreading. I. Analysis of a population]

Normal mouse fibroblasts were studied by means of time-lapse microcinematography under phase-contrast microscope. For 31 cells the area measurements during spreading were made with the intervals of 2.5--5 minutes. The following results have been obtained. The maximal area of spreaded cell is 3--4 times greater than the surface area of the sphere with the spherical cell radius. There is a tendency of the cell area to increase linearly in the middle, that is in a regime of a constant middle rate. Most cells spread either in one regime, or in two, when a more rapid regime is followed by a shower one. The change of the spreading regime is a result of the control of mean rate of spreading.