Flow cytometric analysis of cell-surface binding elements for fibronectin on mouse lung cell isolates.
Fresh lung cell isolates from LAF1 mice were examined for the presence of fibronectin-binding elements using flow cytometric analysis. Thoroughly perfused lungs from adult male mice were dissociated using an elastase-trypsin digestion, gentle pipetting and filtering. The resulting heterogeneous cell suspension was incubated with fibronectin coated 0.5 micron fluorescent beads. Subsequent flow cytometric analysis indicated the presence of two species of specific fibronectin-binding populations; one of higher binding affinity which can be blocked with exogenous plasma fibronectin and one of lower binding affinity. We tentatively identify the lower affinity binding element with the fibronectin adhesion receptor and the higher affinity element with the putative matrix assembly receptor.