MODELING OF MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF CELL-ADHESION

Cellular adhesion is a process of great importance in biology. We pres ent a simple model of the adhesion process in which the molecular mech anisms involve a receptor, a ligand, and the cytoskeleton of the cell. Based on the energetic consideration of the process, we propose a mol ecular interpretation of the existing experimental data. The model sug gests that the interaction of the receptor and (or) receptor-ligand wi th the cytoskeleton can have important influence on the formation and strength of the adhesion complex as well as on the subsequent interact ion with different ligands. When conformational changes take place dur ing the adhesion process, the characterization of the adhesion bonds b ased on chemical kinetics alone seems to be incomplete and must be sup plemented by parameters, describing the functionality of the complex, i.e., change of the affinity for different ligands, as in the signal t ransduction, or the strength of the bond, as in the adhesion process.