Attachment kinetics of BHK cells in very short contact times (0, 1, 2, 3 and 5 min) under static conditions was investigated on tissue-culture-treated polystyrene (TC-PS) dishes preadsorbed with various proteins. Although cells attached rapidly onto bare TC-PS, they did not attach at all within 1-2 min of contact when the surfaces were preadsorbed with serum albumin (Alb), even at low surface coverage. The specific interaction between adsorbed fibronectin (FN) and cells required a short contact time to accomplish the attachment. Moreover, FN adsorption at low surface coverage retarded the cell attachment up to 2 min as compared to the bare TC-PS. These inhibitory effects of FN were completely overcome by postcoating with polylysine (PL), which did not inhibit the spreading promoting activity of FN. Both Alb and FN adsorption had some contributions in enhancing the surface hydrophobicity, whereas post-treatment of the FN adsorbed surfaces by PL did not change the characteristics at ah. Raving considered that Alb and FN themselves are negatively charged at physiological pH, cell contact and attachment initiation onto solid surfaces once preadsorbed with proteins were strongly suggested to be predominated by electrostatic interactions simply by evaluating the charge sign of adsorbed proteins.