Mathematical modeling the kinetics of cell distribution in the process of ligand-receptor binding

A statistical approach is presented to model the kinetics of cell distribut ion in the process of ligand-receptor binding on cell surfaces. The approac h takes into account the variation of the amount of receptors on cells assu ming the homogeneity of monovalent binding sites and ligand molecules. The analytical expressions for the kinetics of cell distribution have been deri ved in the reaction-limited approximation. In order to demonstrate the appl icability of the mathematical model, the kinetics of binding the rabbit, an ti-mouse Ige with Ig-receptors of the murine hybridoma cells has been measu red. Anti-mouse IgG was labeled with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC). The kinetics of cell distribution on ligand-receptor complexes was observed du ring the reaction process by real-time measuring of the fluorescence and li ghtscattering traces of individual cells with the scanning flow cytometer. The experimental data were fitted by the mathematical model in order to obt ain the binding rate constant and the initial cell distribution on the amou nt of receptors. (C) 2000 Academic Press.