Determination of the Elastic Moduli of a Single Cell Cultured on a Rigid Support by Force Microscopy
The elastic response of a living cell is affected by its physiological state. This property provides mechanical fingerprints of a cell's dysfunctionality. The softness (kilopascal range) and thickness (2–15 μm) of mammalian cells imply that the force exerted by the probe might be affected by th...
| Autores: | , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión aceptada para publicación |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2018 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/183082 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/183082 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Contact mechanics Force spectroscopy Elastic properties Cell nanomechanics |
| Sumario: | The elastic response of a living cell is affected by its physiological state. This property provides mechanical fingerprints of a cell's dysfunctionality. The softness (kilopascal range) and thickness (2–15 μm) of mammalian cells imply that the force exerted by the probe might be affected by the stiffness of the solid support. This observation makes infinite sample thickness models unsuitable to describe quantitatively the forces and deformations on a cell. Here, we report a general theory to determine the true Young's moduli of a single cell from a force-indentation curve. Analytical expressions are deduced for common geometries such as flat punches, paraboloids, cones, needles, and nanowires. For a given cell and indentation, the influence of the solid support on the measurements is reduced by using sharp and high aspect ratio tips. The theory is validated by finite element simulations. |
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