Videoanalysis of chemokinesis: characterization of speed, persistence and orientation in an agarose assay

Time-lapse video recording and off-line computer analysis were used to characterize the chemokinetic behavior of individual human neutrophils migrating in an agarose assay. When neutrophils were stimulated with an isotropic concentration of formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP), they migrated with a mean speed of 9.6 micron per min and oriented at random. The ratio of net displacement to total distance travelled (persistence of locomotion) was 0.66, indicating that neutrophils maintained some directional persistence even in the absence of a gradient of fMLP. The speed and persistence of locomotion index were correlated because both faster and slower cells had high persistence, while only slower cells had low persistence. The orientation angle was independent of both speed and persistence of locomotion. These are the first reported direct measurements of the chemokinetic locomotion of neutrophils using the agarose assay.