Equilibrium tethering forces.
Histogram shows the distribution of equilibrium tethering forces for mature cells (black bars), circulating reticulocytes (hatched bars), marrow cells (including reticulocytes and normoblasts, gray bars), and normoblasts only (gray, hatched bars). All tethers were formed at membrane tensions ranging from 0.05 to 0.10 mN/m (aspiration pressures ranging from 1.0 to 2.0 cm H2O). Although several circulating reticulocytes exhibited tethering forces that fell below the range of values for the mature cells, the difference between the circulating reticulocyte population and the population of mature cells was not statistically significant. However, tethering forces for reticulocytes and normoblasts from marrow samples were significantly lower than for mature cells.
