The researchers, led by Henry N. Higgs, assistant professor of biochemistry at Dartmouth Medical School used scanning electron microscopy to analyze the finger-like projections coating white blood cells known as microvilli. "If you asked most medical scientists what a white blood cell looked like they would say a smooth sphere that floats around in the blood, but, in fact, they are not smooth at all they have these wonderful invaginations and protrusions coming off of them," explained Higgs, who is also a member of the Immunology and Cancer Immunotherapy Research Program at Norris Cotton Cancer Center and a member of the program in immunology.
Higgs and his lab focused much of their work on lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell that have a number of roles in the immune system, including the production of antibodies and other substances that fight infection and disease. An essential feature of lymphocytes' ability to mount an immune response is their ability to migrate from the blood into infected tissues. The process of squeezing between the cells lining blood vessel walls and into the surrounding tissue is known as 'extravasation'. Research indicates that microvilli may play a key role in this process. They allow white blood cells hurtling through the bloodstream at s
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Contact: Andrew Nordhoff
mednews@dartmouth.edu
603-650-1492
Dartmouth Medical School
30-Aug-2004