Figure 6.

The fibrinogen globe renders TN-C less adhesive. Nonsprouting BAECs were plated in serum-free medium on tissue-culture dishes coated with TN-C variants, hFN, plastic, or BSA. After incubation of 45 min, cells were fixed and stained, and adhering cells were counted. Cells rapidly adhered to hFN or plastic (for numbers see Results), but only moderate adhesion was found on TN-C substrates. Deletion of the fibrinogen globe (TN-FB⁻) increased the number of adhering cells significantly (*, P < 0.05), whereas deletion of the FN type III repeats (TN-FN⁻) or EGF-like repeats (TN-EGF⁻) did not change cell adhesion compared with full-length TN-C (CEF-TN, TN230, TN190). Data are given as mean ± SD (n = 3).