Effect of emitted qi on agglutinating reaction of human pulmonary adenocarcinoma cell (SPC-A1) mediated by ConA

Intercellular recognition and contact inhibition are the main characteristics of the cultured animal cell, which usually appear as agglutinating reaction mediated by some plant lectins, such as ConA. It has been proved that there is close relationship between the agglutination and glycoproteins on cell membranes. The sort and distribution of glycoprotein as well as its interaction with relative receptors can influence the agglutinating reaction. In general, normal cells expresses less degree of agglutination than tumor cells. Therefore, in this experiment, we used SPC-Al cells as the material, and the effect of the emitted qi on cell recognition mediated by ConA was studied. Mechanisms involved in the cell recognition.such as cell membrane-bound glycoprotein and receptors were also investigated.

It was found that the emitted qi treatment reduced the extent of agglutination.and this effect became more obvious with increasing times of treatment. Meanwhile, the forms of glycoprotein on cell membranes were also changed, displayed on a SDS-PAGE, developed by the specific Schiff's staining method, among which some bands disappeared and others emerged. This variation may play some role in the process of cell recognition. When the FITC labeled ConA was used as a fluorescent probe to detect ConA “receptor' change in situ with the FCM technique, it was further observed that the amount of ConA 'receptor' decreased and its distribution was also changed . These results may partially account for the reversion effect of qigong on SPC-A1 cell.