Abstract
Precise measurement of mechanical properties of living cells is important in understanding their mechanics-biology relations. In this study, we adopted the atomic force microscope to measure the creep deformation and stress relaxation of six different human cell lines. We examined whether the measured creep and relaxation trajectories satisfy a verification relation derived based on the linear viscoelastic theory. We compared the traditional spring-dashpot and the newly developed power-law-type constitutive relations in fitting the experimental measurements. We found that the human normal liver (L02), hepatic cancer (HepG2), hepatic stellate (LX2) and gastric cancer (NCI-N87) cell lines are linear viscoelastic materials, and human normal gastric (GES-1) and gastric cancer (SGC7901) cell lines are nonlinear due to failing in satisfying the verification relation for linear viscoelastic theory. The three-parameter power-law-type constitutive relation can fit the experimental measurements better than that of the five-parameter classical spring-dashpot.
Highlights
Living cells are soft and complex materials with cytoskeletons continuously subjected to highly dynamic remodeling
A series of experimental efforts have been conducted to probe the mechanical properties of living cells by using various techniques, including the atomic force microscopy (AFM) [14,15,16,17,18], magnetic twisting cytometry [19], magnetic or optical tweezers [20], microplate rheometer [21] and particle tracking microrheology [22, 23]
We focus on the measurements of deformation creep and force relaxation trajectories of six different human cell lines by using the technique of AFM indentation
Summary
Living cells are soft and complex materials with cytoskeletons continuously subjected to highly dynamic remodeling. Quantitative measurement of material properties of living cells is usually difficult due to the facts of their low stiffness, small size and severe thermal fluctuations Despite these difficulties, a series of experimental efforts have been conducted to probe the mechanical properties of living cells by using various techniques, including the atomic force microscopy (AFM) [14,15,16,17,18], magnetic twisting cytometry [19], magnetic or optical tweezers [20], microplate rheometer [21] and particle tracking microrheology [22, 23]. As long as the force–indentation curves are measured by using the AFM, the ACTA MECHANICA SOLIDA SINICA
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