Elasticity spectra as a tool to investigate actin cortex mechanics
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ournal of Nanobiotechnology Open Access
RESEARCH
Elasticity spectra as a tool to investigate actin cortex mechanics Ines Lüchtefeld1, Alice Bartolozzi2, Julián Mejía Morales3,4, Oana Dobre5, Michele Basso2, Tomaso Zambelli1 and Massimo Vassalli5*
Abstract Background: The mechanical properties of single living cells have proven to be a powerful marker of the cell physiological state. The use of nanoindentation-based single cell force spectroscopy provided a wealth of information on the elasticity of cells, which is still largely to be exploited. The simplest model to describe cell mechanics is to treat them as a homogeneous elastic material and describe it in terms of the Young’s modulus. Beside its simplicity, this approach proved to be extremely informative, allowing to assess the potential of this physical indicator towards high throughput phenotyping in diagnostic and prognostic applications. Results: Here we propose an extension of this analysis to explicitly account for the properties of the actin cortex. We present a method, the Elasticity Spectra, to calculate the apparent stiffness of the cell as a function of the indentation depth and we suggest a simple phenomenological approach to measure the thickness and stiffness of the actin cortex, in addition to the standard Young’s modulus. Conclusions: The Elasticity Spectra approach is tested and validated on a set of cells treated with cytoskeletonaffecting drugs, showing the potential to extend the current representation of cell mechanics, without introducing a detailed and complex description of the intracellular structure. Keywords: Scanning probe microscopy, Force spectroscopy, Cell mechanics, Nanoindentation, Cytoskeleton, Actin cortex Background Every living organism is made of cells that constantly adapt their phenotype to the environment, tuning their biochemical and physical properties to respond to external cues. A central role in this mechanism has been clearly recognized for the mechanical properties, either of the cell or the extracellular environment. The elasticity of the substrate can drive the differentiation of stem cells towards a specific lineage [1], through the engagement of a “molecular clutch” mechanism [2] which is also thought to transduce local viscosity information [3]. *Correspondence: [email protected] 5 James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Oakfield avenue, Glasgow G12 8LT, UK Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
On a different perspective, the mechanical properties of cells reflect their physiological state, and measuring the deformability of single cells with high throughput holds a great promise for future diagnostic and therapeutic applications [4, 5]. Altogether, the mechanical interplay between living cells and their environment is a key process, potently involved in the development of organ and organism, and the dysregulation of its homeostasis contributes to the onset of pathological states [6]. As a matter of fact, the number of genetic mutations re
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