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Related Experiment Videos

Creep function of a single living cell.

Nicolas Desprat1, Alain Richert, Jacqueline Simeon

  • 1Laboratoire de Biorhéologie et d'Hydrodynamique Physico-chimique, Université Paris VII, France.

Biophysical Journal
|December 15, 2004
PubMed
Summary

This study reveals that living cells exhibit power-law creep behavior across the entire cell scale. This finding, consistent across different measurement techniques, suggests self-similarity in cell mechanics.

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Area of Science:

  • Biophysics
  • Cell Mechanics
  • Rheology

Background:

  • Cellular mechanical properties are crucial for biological functions.
  • Previous studies suggested complex viscoelastic behavior in cells.
  • Technique-dependent interpretations of cell mechanics have been a challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To characterize the viscoelastic behavior of isolated living cells using a novel rheometer.
  • To investigate the power-law creep function J(t) at the whole-cell scale.
  • To compare findings with existing data from magnetic twisting cytometry and atomic force microscopy.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a novel uniaxial stretching rheometer for precise J(t) measurements.
  • Applied Laplace Transforms to compare creep function parameters with complex modulus parameters.

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  • Analyzed mechanical data from N=43 mice myoblasts (C2-7).

    • Main Results:

    • Demonstrated for the first time that J(t) follows a power-law J(t) = At^alpha at the whole-cell scale.
    • Found alpha = 0.24 +/- 0.01 and A = (2.4 +/- 0.3) x 10^-3 Pa^-1 s^-alpha for myoblasts.
    • Observed excellent agreement between creep and modulus parameters (A vs G(0), alpha vs beta) across different techniques and scales.

    Conclusions:

    • The power-law behavior is an intrinsic property of cell mechanics, independent of measurement technique.
    • Results suggest self-similarity in the mechanical structure of cells from nanometer to whole-cell scales.
    • Living cells should be modeled as materials with a continuous distribution of relaxation times, not finite spring-dashpot models.