Antibodies immobilized on the wall of a flow chamber can support leukocyte rolling in shear flow. IgM mAb to Lewis x (CD15) and sialyl Lewis x (CD15s), which are carbohydrate antigens related to selectin ligands, plus mAb to CD48 and CD59, could mediate rolling. IgM and IgG mAb to L-selectin (CD62L), lymphocyte function-associated antigen 1 (CD11a), CD43, intercellular adhesion molecule 3 (CD50), and CD45 mediated only firm adhesion. In contrast to selectins, antibodies supported rolling only within a restricted range of site densities and wall shear stresses, outside of which firm adhesion or detachment occurred. When wall shear stress was increased, rolling velocity increased rapidly for antibodies but not for selectins. The kinetics of dissociation from the substrate of transiently tethered cells also increased more rapidly as a function of shear stress for antibodies than for selectins. These comparisons emphasize a number of remarkable features of selectins, including the lack of development of firm adhesion, and suggest that specialized molecular or cellular mechanisms must be required to explain their ability to support rolling over a wide range of environmental variables.In the first step in accumulation in inflammatory sites and homing to lymphoid tissues, circulating leukocytes tether to the vessel wall and then roll in response to hydrodynamic drag forces (1, 2). During rolling, the adhesive contact zone between the cell and the vessel is rapidly translated along the vessel wall. This requires the rapid breakage and formation of adhesive bonds and that the rate of bond formation keep up with the rate of bond breakage. Only certain adhesion molecules, including selectins, some integrins, and CD44 have been found to support rolling (1,(3)(4)(5). By contrast, many adhesion molecules, including integrins but not selectins, support another class of adhesion termed ''firm adhesion,'' which often involves cell spreading and cell migration.Thus far, little is known about the characteristics that determine whether adhesion molecules support rolling adhesion or firm adhesion. It has been hypothesized that fast bond dissociation and association rates are important for rolling (6), and measurements on P-selectin are consistent with this idea (7,8). However, the interaction of CD2 with lymphocyte function-associated 3 (9, 10) and binding of an IgE antibody to its antigen (11) have similar kinetics but do not appear to support rolling. Another factor that may be important is the effect of force on bond association and dissociation kinetics (12). The effect of force has been measured on the duration of transient tethers of cells to the vessel wall, which occurs at selectin densities below the minimum required to support rolling. The rate of dissociation of P-selectin tethers is increased only modestly by hydrodynamic force (8), which would contribute to the stability of rolling adhesions.To allow comparisons to be made between molecules that are and are not physiologically specialized for rolling, we have te...