How do Neutrophils sense and move?

Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell in the body´s immune system. Neutrophils move via actin polymerization and actin myosin contraction. A suitable substrate must be determined for neutrophils to be placed upon during motility and chemotaxis experiments. Differentiated HL-60 or neutrophil-like cells were used to determine the appropriate substrate. Substrates such as fibronectin, vitronectin and poly-lysine were tested and it was concluded that the substrate on which HL-60 cells moved best was PDMS coated with 1/1 OX Fibronectin with an average speed of 1.810 micrometers/min. Also the adhesion of the HL-60 cells differentiated with retinoic acid over a period of 72 hours was studied. It had previously been determined that the HL-60 cells displayed the surface marker CD-38 fully after a period of 72 hours and the experiment performed was to determine how the expression of this marker affected cell adhesion properties, which was found to be a linear relationship. This research project has since become a larger study for a graduate student at Cornell University.