Microenvironment and cell mechanics

Abstract

Microenvironment contains biophysical and biochemical elements to maintain survival, growth, proliferation, and differentiation of cells. Any change can lead to cell response to the mechanical forces, which can be described by elasticity. It is an indicator of a cell’s state since it plays an important role in many cellular processes. In many cases, cell elasticity is measured by using discontinuous manner, which may not allow elucidating real-time activity of individual live cells in physiological condition or cell response against microenvironmental changes. I argue that measuring cell elasticity using continuously repetitive nanoindentation technique is important that should be considered. As an example, I discuss mechanics of human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells in various conditions. In resting cells, there is an activity of the cytoskeleton whose oscillation amplitude is strongly affected by the intracellular calcium, and the collective activity of myosin motor proteins induces elasticity oscillation. Experimental results also reveal that actin cytoskeleton and cell membrane determine cell mechanics.