Abstract
We have developed a cell palpation system to investigate cell stiffness from the reaction force generated on a particle that is fixed on a cell. In this method, a particle is used as a probe, and is manipulated towards a cell using optical tweezers. Using this method, we can obtain information of local stiffness of a cell. We investigate focal adhesion formation of a cell probed by a particle and we report different particle coating utilized for attaching certain protein in cell membrane. Also we discuss the effects of endocytosis.
Highlights
The cell’s cytoskeleton, which is consists of proteins, provides the mechanical stiffness of the cell [1]
In this work we investigate the effects of cell adhesion formation and effects of different surface coatings of particles to cell palpation with optical tweezers
First we describe the principle of cell stiffness measurement with optical tweezers, and explain the actual measurement scheme in the cell palpation system
Summary
The cell’s cytoskeleton, which is consists of proteins, provides the mechanical stiffness of the cell [1]. Optical tweezers has been utilized to measure weak force, such as molecular-molecular interactions [6,7,8], to investigate mechanism of force generation of kinesin on microtubule [9, 10], and study the mechanical property of DNA [11]. We use this technique to apply force on a particle attached on a cell and to measure the reaction force on the particle. We report the results on the measurement of cell adhesion formation using the cell palpation system and discuss suitable timing of cell stiffness measurement
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