Attachment of Paramecium to polystyrene surfaces. II. Induction of the attachment by hydrophobic reagents or immune immunoglobulin G.

Mating-reactive cells of Paramecium multimicronucleatum attach to a polystyrene surface (Falcon 10070 culture dishes) irrespective of extracellular ion concentration and swimming velocity. This attachment is induced in cells that are not mating-reactive by treatment with purified immunoglobulin G from antiserum, which blocks cells from mating or from antiserum prepared against the surface-localized immobilization antigens. Treatment with certain hydrophobic reagents such as phenethylamine, benzylamine, amphetamine or phenylethylamine also strongly induces attachment. Similar results are obtained with P. caudatum. Micronuclear activation, which normally occurs in the conjugation process, does not occur, however, in cells that are induced to attach to the polystyrene surface.