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We have investigated the exogenous factors required for the transition from the round shape of suspended fibroblasts to the characteristic spread shape on serum-coated glass. Following the evidence of others that the transition is facilitated by adsorbed component(s) related to CIG/LETS (cold-insoluble globulin/large external transformation-sensitive) proteins, we have isolated 2 such preparations from chick serum. Their influence has been investigated on fibroblast adhesion, spreading and growth and they have been characterized by gel electrophoresis, immunological cross-reactivity, amino acid and carbohydrate residue analysis, sedimentation velocity behaviour and circular dichroism spectroscopy. The preparations have molecular weights of 225/215,000 and 140,000 Daltons respectively and are closely similar in composition and secondary structure. The 225/215 000 Dalton doublet is probably a product of limited proteolysis which almost certainly occurred in the avian circulation. For cells seeded on glass precoated in different ways and in different supplemented media we could detect no change in the extent of attachment but there were profound influences on cell shape following this initial adhesion. We confirm that prior adsorption of either CIG-related preparation to glass does indeed promote fibroblast spreading in the absence of other serum components and that CIG is the sole serum component with this type of activity. We now add 2 important qualifications: (i) the presence of substrate-adsorbed serum CIG is not essential for spreading when other serum components are present in the medium; and (ii) the adhesive organization shown by interference reflexion microscopy is incompletely formed unless the additional serum components are present in the medium. We therefore conclude that 16C fibroblasts have the ability when given the stimulus of soluble serum components other than CIG, but not otherwise, to synthesize all the components necessary for the highly organized contacts with glass, including endogenous CIG/LETS proteins.
Thom et al. (Thu,) studied this question.