Cell Adhesion Force Research Articles

Decoding Cytoskeleton-Anchored and Non-Anchored Receptors from Single-Cell Adhesion Force Data

Complementary to parameters established for cell-adhesion force curve analysis, we evaluated the slope before a force step together with the distance from the surface at which the step occurs and visualized the result in a two-dimensional density plot. This new tool allows detachment steps of long membrane tethers to be distinguished from shorter jumplike force steps, which are typical for cytoskeleton-anchored bonds. A prostate cancer cell line (PC3) immobilized on an atomic-force-microscopy sensor interacted with three different substrates: collagen-I (Col-I), bovine serum albumin, and a monolayer of bone marrow-derived stem cells (SCP1). To address PC3 cells’ predominant Col-I binding molecules, an antibody-blocking β1-integrin was used. Untreated PC3 cells on Col-I or SCP1 cells, which express Col-I, predominantly showed jumps in their force curves, while PC3 cells on bovine-serum-albumin- and antibody-treated PC3 cells showed long membrane tethers. The probability density plots thus revealed that β1-integrin-specific interactions are predominately anchored to the cytoskeleton, while the nonspecific interactions are mainly membrane-anchored. Experiments with latrunculin-A-treated PC3 cells corroborated these observations. The plots thus reveal details of the anchoring of bonds to the cell and provide a better understanding of receptor-ligand interactions.

Monitoring of TGF-β 1-Induced Human Lung Adenocarcinoma A549 Cells Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transformation Process by Measuring Cell Adhesion Force with a Microfluidic Device.

The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process in which epithelial cells lose their cell polarity and cell-cell adhesion, and gain migratory and invasive properties. It is believed that EMT is associated with initiation and completion of the invasion-metastasis cascade. In this study, an economic approach was developed to fabricate a microfluidic device with less instrumentation requirement for the investigation of EMT by quantifying cell adhesion force. Fluid shear force was precisely controlled by a homemade microfluidic perfusion apparatus and interface. The adhesion capability of the human lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549 on different types of extracellular matrix protein was studied. In addition, effects of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) on EMT in A549 cells were investigated by characterizing the adhesion force changes and on-chip fluorescent staining. The results demonstrate that the microfluidic device is a potential tool to characterize the epithelial-mesenchymal transition process by measuring cell adhesion force.

43. Cell-based modeling of mechanical and chemical stress in tissues during cryoprotocols

Since Mazur’s work a half century ago, modeling of the biophysical processes of single cell cryopreservation has been successful in providing a theoretical groundwork for cryopreservation induced damage hypotheses. Important contributions have included both biophysical explanations of osmotic damage during CPA equilibration due to too aggressive or overly conservative equilibration strategies and estimation of cell injury due to intracellular ice formation through simple or complex ice-growth models. Follow up work by Mazur, Liebo and Chu presented the archetypical single cell protocol optimization using modeling, and subsequent investigators have for the most part followed in their footsteps with more sophisticated models of mass transport, cell damage and ice growth. Expanding on this work, a number of investigators have modeled unique damage pathways for cryopreserved tissues, raising important and challenging questions while providing steps towards optimal protocols. Models have included spatially dependent heat and mass transport, solidification fronts, and thermal and mechanical stresses, and a few models have combined tissue level transport with cell level damage estimators in sparsely celled articular cartilage and in simple spherically symmetrical tissue types. Most tissue modeling paradigms are cell unaware until modeling is complete: either cells are ignored in a continuum hypothesis, or are overlaid in a one-way model of tissue level transport to cell interaction. This approach precludes modeling a number of important cryobiological endpoints that are well understood at the single cell level including cell-to-cell mass transport, intercellular ice propagation, and strains on intercellular adhesion. As computational capabilities increase, cell- or agent-based multiscale modeling paradigms are becoming more realistic for understanding cell interactions, growth, and death in vivo. In these models cell interactions with their environment including cell–cell adhesive forces, transport, and growth and death through a number of mechanisms can be modeled in conjunction with classical heat and mass transport of critical solutes. Importantly from the cryobiological perspective, this approach allows modeling of cell-level tissue damage due to osmotic volume regulation, cell-to-cell ice propagation, and excitingly, the impacts of accumulated damage due to the cryopreservation process on post implantation survival at the single cell level via modeling of apoptotic, necrotic and other pathways. Here we summarize classical tissue cryopreservation modeling and successful approaches to individual cell damage modeling and optimization, and present our vision for the future of tissue and organ cryopreservation modeling and optimization.

YAPing Hippo Forecasts a New Target for Lung Cancer Prevention and Treatment.

YAPing Hippo Forecasts a New Target for Lung Cancer Prevention and Treatment.

A quantitative study of MC3T3-E1 cell adhesion, morphology and biomechanics on chitosan–collagen blend films at single cell level

The interaction between cells and biomaterials plays a key role in cell proliferation and differentiation in tissue engineering. However, a quantitative analysis of those interactions has been less well studied. The objective of this study was to quantitative recapitulate the difference of MC3T3-E1 cell adhesion, morphological and biomechanical properties on chitosan–collagen films in terms of chemical composition. Here, the unbinding force between MC3T3-E1 cell and a series of chitosan–collagen films was probed by a real-time and in situ atomic force microscopy–single cell force spectroscopy (AFM–SCFS). Meanwhile, changes in cell morphology and Young's modulus on different chitosan–collagen films were detected by AFM. The cell area and CCK-8 results showed that cell spreading and proliferation increased with increasing collagen content. AFM observations clearly showed cell height decreased and pseudopod fusion with the collagen content increased. Cell adhesive force increased from 0.76±0.17nN to 1.70±0.19nN. On the contrary, cells Young's modulus, which reflected biophysical changes of cells decreased from 11.94±3.19kPa to 1.81±0.52kPa, respectively. It suggested that stronger cell–substrate interactions benefit cell adhesion, and better cell flexibility improve cell spreading. The findings indicate that cell morphology, adhesive force and Young's modulus are significant affected by various chitosan–collagen substrates. Those methods and quantitative results have guiding significance for investigating the mechanism of chitosan and/or collagen based cell-targeting drug carrier and the preparation of chitosan–collagen composite biomaterials.

Multi-scale modelling of the dynamics of cell colonies: insights into cell-adhesion forces and cancer invasion from in silico simulations.

Studying the biophysical interactions between cells is crucial to understanding how normal tissue develops, how it is structured and also when malfunctions occur. Traditional experiments try to infer events at the tissue level after observing the behaviour of and interactions between individual cells. This approach assumes that cells behave in the same biophysical manner in isolated experiments as they do within colonies and tissues. In this paper, we develop a multi-scale multi-compartment mathematical model that accounts for the principal biophysical interactions and adhesion pathways not only at a cell–cell level but also at the level of cell colonies (in contrast to the traditional approach). Our results suggest that adhesion/separation forces between cells may be lower in cell colonies than traditional isolated single-cell experiments infer. As a consequence, isolated single-cell experiments may be insufficient to deduce important biological processes such as single-cell invasion after detachment from a solid tumour. The simulations further show that kinetic rates and cell biophysical characteristics such as pressure-related cell-cycle arrest have a major influence on cell colony patterns and can allow for the development of protrusive cellular structures as seen in invasive cancer cell lines independent of expression levels of pro-invasion molecules.

Measurement systems for cell adhesive forces.

Cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix (ECM) involves integrin receptor-ligand binding and clustering to form focal adhesion (FA) complexes, which mechanically link the cell's cytoskeleton to the ECM and regulate fundamental cell signaling pathways. Although elucidation of the biochemical events in cell-matrix adhesive interactions is rapidly advancing, recent studies show that the forces underlying cell-matrix adhesive interactions are also critical to cell responses. Therefore, multiple measurement systems have been developed to quantify the spatial and temporal dynamics of cell adhesive forces, and these systems have identified how mechanical events influence cell phenotype and FA structure-function relationships under physiological and pathological settings. This review focuses on the development, methodology, and applications of measurement systems for probing (a) cell adhesion strength and (b) 2D and 3D cell traction forces.

Effect of the Tip Size on AFM Cantilever Based Force Sensor

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) cantilever is a widely used end effector for precise force sensing and micro-nanomanipulation at small scale. However, in current researches, the effect of the cantilever tip on the force sensing and manipulation accuracy is rarely considered. In this paper, we investigate how the tip size of the end effector affects the measurement accuracy of the cell adhesion force. First, several end effectors with different tip sizes are fabricated from the same AFM cantilever via focused ion beam (FIB) etching. Then, the single cell detachment force is measured at the same experiment condition by these end effectors, respectively. The results indicate that the sensed adhesion force is susceptible to the tip size of the end effector obviously. In addition, the precision of cell manipulation is also regulated by the contact area between the cell and end effector greatly. These findings will benefit our in-depth understanding on the force interaction at small scale and will provide valid reference for the development of high-precision force sensor and manipulation.

글래스비드 정밀공급기구에 의한 바이오재료평가용 AFM프로브의 개발

Many different cells types have been found to be highly sensitive to mechanical force imposed by their surroundings. The cellular response to external mechanical forces has very important effects on numerous biological phenomena. In spite of its importance in biological processes, the cell adhesion force remains difficult to measure quantitatively at the cellular level. In this paper, to enhance quantitative measurements of cell adhesive interactions, a new attaching system and a method in which a glass bead can be attached to an AFM cantilever was designed and fabricated, and the degree of range displacement was controlled in the system. In an experiment, the movement of the stage in the attaching system and the attaching process were measured. The effectiveness of this system was confirmed as well in the experiment. In addition, through a commercial AFM system, the spring constant of the modified AFM probe could be measured.

Contributions of the integrin β1 tail to cell adhesive forces

Integrin receptors connect the extracellular matrix to the cell cytoskeleton to provide essential forces and signals. To examine the contributions of the β1 integrin cytoplasmic tail to adhesive forces, we generated cell lines expressing wild-type and tail mutant β1 integrins in β1-null fibroblasts. Deletion of β1 significantly reduced cell spreading, focal adhesion assembly, and adhesive forces, and expression of human β1 (hβ1) integrin in these cells restored adhesive functions. Cells expressing a truncated tail mutant had impaired spreading, fewer and smaller focal adhesions, reduced integrin binding to fibronectin, and lower adhesion strength and traction forces compared to hβ1-expressing cells. All these metrics were equivalent to those for β1-null cells, demonstrating that the β1 tail is essential to these adhesive functions. Expression of the constitutively-active D759A hβ1 mutant restored many of these adhesive functions in β1-null cells, although with important differences when compared to wild-type β1. Even though there were no differences in integrin-fibronectin binding and adhesion strength between hβ1- and hβ1-D759A-expressing cells, hβ1-D759A-expressing cells assembled more but smaller adhesions than hβ1-expressing cells. Importantly, hβ1-D759A-expressing cells generated lower traction forces compared to hβ1-expressing cells. These differences between hβ1- and hβ1-D759A-expressing cells suggest that regulation of integrin activation is important for fine-tuning cell spreading, focal adhesion assembly, and traction force generation.

Single cell adhesion assay using computer controlled micropipette.

Cell adhesion is a fundamental phenomenon vital for all multicellular organisms. Recognition of and adhesion to specific macromolecules is a crucial task of leukocytes to initiate the immune response. To gain statistically reliable information of cell adhesion, large numbers of cells should be measured. However, direct measurement of the adhesion force of single cells is still challenging and today’s techniques typically have an extremely low throughput (5–10 cells per day). Here, we introduce a computer controlled micropipette mounted onto a normal inverted microscope for probing single cell interactions with specific macromolecules. We calculated the estimated hydrodynamic lifting force acting on target cells by the numerical simulation of the flow at the micropipette tip. The adhesion force of surface attached cells could be accurately probed by repeating the pick-up process with increasing vacuum applied in the pipette positioned above the cell under investigation. Using the introduced methodology hundreds of cells adhered to specific macromolecules were measured one by one in a relatively short period of time (∼30 min). We blocked nonspecific cell adhesion by the protein non-adhesive PLL-g-PEG polymer. We found that human primary monocytes are less adherent to fibrinogen than their in vitro differentiated descendants: macrophages and dendritic cells, the latter producing the highest average adhesion force. Validation of the here introduced method was achieved by the hydrostatic step-pressure micropipette manipulation technique. Additionally the result was reinforced in standard microfluidic shear stress channels. Nevertheless, automated micropipette gave higher sensitivity and less side-effect than the shear stress channel. Using our technique, the probed single cells can be easily picked up and further investigated by other techniques; a definite advantage of the computer controlled micropipette. Our experiments revealed the existence of a sub-population of strongly fibrinogen adherent cells appearing in macrophages and highly represented in dendritic cells, but not observed in monocytes.

Automated single cell sorting and deposition in submicroliter drops

Automated manipulation and sorting of single cells are challenging, when intact cells are needed for further investigations, e.g., RNA or DNA sequencing. We applied a computer controlled micropipette on a microscope admitting 80 PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) tubes to be filled with single cells in a cycle. Due to the Laplace pressure, fluid starts to flow out from the micropipette only above a critical pressure preventing the precise control of drop volume in the submicroliter range. We found an anomalous pressure additive to the Laplace pressure that we attribute to the evaporation of the drop. We have overcome the problem of the critical dropping pressure with sequentially operated fast fluidic valves timed with a millisecond precision. Minimum drop volume was 0.4–0.7 μl with a sorting speed of 15–20 s per cell. After picking NE-4C neuroectodermal mouse stem cells and human primary monocytes from a standard plastic Petri dish we could gently deposit single cells inside tiny drops. 94 ± 3% and 54 ± 7% of the deposited drops contained single cells for NE-4C and monocytes, respectively. 7.5 ± 4% of the drops contained multiple cells in case of monocytes. Remaining drops were empty. Number of cells deposited in a drop could be documented by imaging the Petri dish before and after sorting. We tuned the adhesion force of cells to make the manipulation successful without the application of microstructures for trapping cells on the surface. We propose that our straightforward and flexible setup opens an avenue for single cell isolation, critically needed for the rapidly growing field of single cell biology.

Atomic force microscope-based single cell force spectroscopy of breast cancer cell lines: An approach for evaluating cellular invasion

The adhesiveness of cancerous cells to their neighboring cells significantly contributes to tumor progression and metastasis. The single-cell force spectroscopy (SCFS) approach was implemented to survey the cell–cell adhesion force between cancerous cells in three cancerous breast cell lines (MCF-7, T47D, and MDA-MB-231). The gene expression levels of two dominant cell adhesion markers (E-cadherin and N-cadherin) were quantified by real-time PCR. Additionally, the local stiffness of the cell bodies was measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM), and the actin cytoskeletal organization was examined by confocal microscopy. Results indicated that the adhesion force between cells was conversely correlated with their invasion potential. The highest adhesion force was observed in the MCF-7 cells. A reduction in cell–cell adhesion, which is required for the detachment of cells from the main tumor during metastasis, is partly due to the loss of E-cadherin expression and the enhanced expression of N-cadherins. The reduced adhesion was accompanied by the softening of cells, as described by the rearrangement of actin filaments through confocal microscopy observations. The softening of the cell body and the reduced cellular adhesiveness are two adaptive mechanisms through which malignant cells achieve the increased deformability, motility, and strong metastasis potential necessary for passage through endothelial junctions and positioning in host tissue. This study presented application of SCFS to survey cell phenotype transformation during cancer progression. The results can be implemented as a platform for further investigations that target the manipulation of cellular adhesiveness and stiffness as a therapeutic choice.

Folliculin regulates cell-cell adhesion, AMPK, and mTORC1 in a cell-type-specific manner in lung-derived cells.

Germline loss‐of‐function BHD mutations cause cystic lung disease and hereditary pneumothorax, yet little is known about the impact of BHD mutations in the lung. Folliculin (FLCN), the product of the Birt–Hogg–Dube (BHD) gene, has been linked to altered cell–cell adhesion and to the AMPK and mTORC1 signaling pathways. We found that downregulation of FLCN in human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells decreased the phosphorylation of ACC, a marker of AMPK activation, while downregulation of FLCN in small airway epithelial (SAEC) cells increased the activity of phospho‐S6, a marker of mTORC1 activation, highlighting the cell type–dependent functions of FLCN. Cell–cell adhesion forces were significantly increased in FLCN‐deficient HBE cells, consistent with prior findings in FLCN‐deficient human kidney‐derived cells. To determine how these altered cell–cell adhesion forces impact the lung, we exposed mice with heterozygous inactivation of Bhd (similarly to humans with germline inactivation of one BHD allele) to mechanical ventilation at high tidal volumes. Bhd+/− mice exhibited a trend (P = 0.08) toward increased elastance after 6 h of ventilation at 24 cc/kg. Our results indicate that FLCN regulates the AMPK and mTORC1 pathways and cell–cell adhesion in a cell type–dependent manner. FLCN deficiency may impact the physiologic response to inflation‐induced mechanical stress, but further investigation is required. We hypothesize that FLCN‐dependent effects on signaling and cellular adhesion contribute to the pathogenesis of cystic lung disease in BHD patients.

Measurement of cell adhesion force by vertical forcible detachment using an arrowhead nanoneedle and atomic force microscopy

The properties of substrates and extracellular matrices (ECM) are important factors governing the functions and fates of mammalian adherent cells. For example, substrate stiffness often affects cell differentiation. At focal adhesions, clustered–integrin bindings link cells mechanically to the ECM. In order to quantitate the affinity between cell and substrate, the cell adhesion force must be measured for single cells. In this study, forcible detachment of a single cell in the vertical direction using AFM was carried out, allowing breakage of the integrin–substrate bindings. An AFM tip was fabricated into an arrowhead shape to detach the cell from the substrate. Peak force observed in the recorded force curve during probe retraction was defined as the adhesion force, and was analyzed for various types of cells. Some of the cell types adhered so strongly that they could not be picked up because of plasma membrane breakage by the arrowhead probe. To address this problem, a technique to reinforce the cellular membrane with layer-by-layer nanofilms composed of fibronectin and gelatin helped to improve insertion efficiency and to prevent cell membrane rupture during the detachment process, allowing successful detachment of the cells. This method for detaching cells, involving cellular membrane reinforcement, may be beneficial for evaluating true cell adhesion forces in various cell types.

A correlation study of protein adsorption and cell behaviors on substrates with different densities of PEG chains

The adsorption of proteins, in particular fibronectin (Fn), was studied on poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG, 5kDa)-grafted surfaces, and was correlated with the adhesion behaviors of smooth muscle cells (SMCs). The PEG molecules were covalently grafted on aldehyde-activated substrates with different densities of amino groups. The thickness of PEG layer increased nearly 10 fold in a hydrated state, reaching to 27nm on the surface of highest PEG chain density with a brush configuration. On the lower PEG-grafted surfaces, however, the PEG molecules adopted a mushroom configuration. The adsorption of Fn without and with the competition of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and serum was studied by using ellipsometry, fluorescence microscopy and radio-labeling techniques. The adsorption amount of Fn in serum decreased initially with increased PEG chain density until 0.12chains/nm2 PEG, and then slightly increased on the 0.29chains/nm2 PEG. A series of protein preadsorption experiments were carried out under different conditions before SMCs culture in vitro. Compared with those substrates without Fn preadsorption, the cell adhesion and spreading were significantly enhanced on all the PEG surfaces preadsorbed with Fn and serum, although they overall decreased along with the increase of PEG grafting density. The adhesion force of Fn decreased monotonously with the increase of PEG grafting density, which was in accordance with the cell adhesion force. The correlation between the PEG-grafted surfaces, Fn adsorption, and cellular behaviors is finally suggested.

Assay for characterizing the recovery of vertebrate cells for adhesion measurements by single-cell force spectroscopy

Single-cell force spectroscopy (SCFS) is becoming a widely used method to quantify the adhesion of a living cell to a substrate, another cell or tissue. The high sensitivity of SCFS permits determining the contributions of individual cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) to the adhesion force of an entire cell. However, to prepare adherent cells for SCFS, they must first be detached from tissue-culture flasks or plates. EDTA and trypsin are often applied for this purpose. Because cellular properties can be affected by this treatment, cells need to recover before being further characterized by SCFS. Here we introduce atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based SCFS to measure the mechanical and adhesive properties of HeLa cells and mouse embryonic kidney fibroblasts while they are recovering after detachment from tissue-culture. We find that mechanical and adhesive properties of both cell lines recover quickly (<10min) after detachment using EDTA, while trypsin-detached fibroblasts require >60min to fully recover. Our assay introduced to characterize the recovery of mammalian cells after detachment can in future be used to estimate the recovery behavior of other adherent cell types.

Quantifying the forces guiding microbial cell adhesion using single-cell force spectroscopy.

During the past decades, several methods (e.g., electron microscopy, flow chamber experiments, surface chemical analysis, surface charge and surface hydrophobicity measurements) have been developed to investigate the mechanisms controlling the adhesion of microbial cells to other cells and to various other substrates. However, none of the traditional approaches are capable of looking at adhesion forces at the single-cell level. In recent years, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been instrumental in measuring the forces driving microbial adhesion on a single-cell basis. The method, known as single-cell force spectroscopy (SCFS), consists of immobilizing a single living cell on an AFM cantilever and measuring the interaction forces between the cellular probe and a solid substrate or another cell. Here we present SCFS protocols that we have developed for quantifying the cell adhesion forces of medically important microbes. Although we focus mainly on the probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus plantarum, we also show that our procedures are applicable to pathogens, such as the bacterium Staphylococcus epidermidis and the yeast Candida albicans. For well-trained microscopists, the entire protocol can be mastered in 1 week.

Covalent and Density-Controlled Surface Immobilization of E-Cadherin for Adhesion Force Spectroscopy

E-cadherin is a key cell-cell adhesion molecule but the impact of receptor density and the precise contribution of individual cadherin ectodomains in promoting cell adhesion are only incompletely understood. Investigating these mechanisms would benefit from artificial adhesion substrates carrying different cadherin ectodomains at defined surface density. We therefore developed a quantitative E-cadherin surface immobilization protocol based on the SNAP-tag technique. Extracellular (EC) fragments of E-cadherin fused to the SNAP-tag were covalently bound to self-assembled monolayers (SAM) of thiols carrying benzylguanine (BG) head groups. The adhesive functionality of the different E-cadherin surfaces was then assessed using cell spreading assays and single-cell (SCSF) and single-molecule (SMSF) force spectroscopy. We demonstrate that an E-cadherin construct containing only the first and second outmost EC domain (E1-2) is not sufficient for mediating cell adhesion and yields only low single cadherin-cadherin adhesion forces. In contrast, a construct containing all five EC domains (E1-5) efficiently promotes cell spreading and generates strong single cadherin and cell adhesion forces. By varying the concentration of BG head groups within the SAM we determined a lateral distance of 5–11 nm for optimal E-cadherin functionality. Integrating the results from SCMS and SMSF experiments furthermore demonstrated that the dissolution of E-cadherin adhesion contacts involves a sequential unbinding of individual cadherin receptors rather than the sudden rupture of larger cadherin receptor clusters. Our method of covalent, oriented and density-controlled E-cadherin immobilization thus provides a novel and versatile platform to study molecular mechanisms underlying cadherin-mediated cell adhesion under defined experimental conditions.

The F-actin and adherence-dependent mechanical differentiation of normal epithelial cells after TGF-β1-induced EMT (tEMT) using a microplate measurement system

The epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is known to involve several physiological and pathological phenomena. In this study, we utilized a microplate measurement system (MMS) approach based on the deflection of a flexible micro-cantilever to measure cell stiffness (in Pa) and adhesion force (in nN) of a single cell during EMT with nN resolution. Our results demonstrated that after transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) induced EMT (tEMT), NMuMG cells became stiffer due to thicker and more abundant F-actin and displayed stronger vinculin accumulation after long-term cell-substrate adhesion. The MMS could distinguish differences in compressive stiffness (219 ± 10 and 287 ± 14Pa), tensile stiffness (114 ± 14 and 132 ± 12Pa), and adhesion force (150 ± 42 and 192 ± 31nN) between cells before and after tEMT. However, without proper development of the F-actin structure and adequate adherent time, the mechanical differences were diminished. After tEMT, the cells with increased stiffness and a cell-substrate adhesion force benefited by migrating more rapidly and had more invasiveness. Thus, this technology has the potential to benefit research focused on cancer diagnosis, drug development, and cell-substrate interactions.