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Abstract
Tissue mechanics is important for development; however, the spatio-temporal dynamics of in vivo tissue stiffness is still poorly understood. We here developed tiv-AFM, combining time-lapse in vivo atomic force microscopy with upright fluorescence imaging of embryonic tissue, to show that during development local tissue stiffness changes significantly within tens of minutes. Within this time frame, a stiffness gradient arose in the developing Xenopus brain, and retinal ganglion cell axons turned to follow this gradient. Changes in local tissue stiffness were largely governed by cell proliferation, as perturbation of mitosis diminished both the stiffness gradient and the caudal turn of axons found in control brains. Hence, we identified a close relationship between the dynamics of tissue mechanics and developmental processes, underpinning the importance of time-resolved stiffness measurements.
Highlights
Tissue mechanics is important for development; the spatio-temporal dynamics of in vivo tissue stiffness is still poorly understood
Called time-lapse in vivo atomic force microscopy, the method measures how brain stiffness changes over time in a live embryo, while taking images of the growing axons
We previously demonstrated that by later stages of optic tract (OT) outgrowth, a local stiffness gradient lies orthogonal to the path of OT axons, with the stiffer region rostral to the OT and softer region caudal to it (Koser et al, 2016)
Summary
Tissue mechanics is important for development; the spatio-temporal dynamics of in vivo tissue stiffness is still poorly understood. Called time-lapse in vivo atomic force microscopy, the method measures how brain stiffness changes over time in a live embryo, while taking images of the growing axons.
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