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08:41
Measuring the Mechanical Properties of Living Cells Using Atomic Force Microscopy
Published on: June 27, 2013
Force-extension relationship of cell-cell contacts
Julien Brevier1, Marcel Vallade, Daniel Riveline
1Laboratoire de Spectrométrie Physique (CNRS), UMR 5588, Université Joseph Fourier, Saint-Martin d'Hères, France.
Physical Review Letters
|August 7, 2007
Summary
Adherens junctions (AJ) length varies with cell force. Researchers measured this relationship, finding an effective spring constant of 30 pN/microm, enabling force estimation from AJ images.
Area of Science:
- Cell biology
- Biophysics
- Mechanobiology
Background:
- Adherens junctions (AJ) mediate cell-cell adhesion through physical contacts.
- These fingerlike structures grow perpendicular to the cell interface and their density is force-independent.
- AJ length, however, is known to vary with applied force.
Purpose of the Study:
- To measure the relationship between adherens junction contact length and cellular contractile force.
- To determine the effective spring constant of adherens junctions.
- To explore the potential for estimating cell monolayer force distributions from AJ images.
Main Methods:
- Utilized nocodazole to vary mean cellular contractile force.
- Measured adherens junction contact lengths under different force conditions.
- Employed a simple mechanical model to analyze the data.
Main Results:
- Adherens junction contact length was found to be dependent on applied cellular force.
- An effective spring constant of approximately 30 pN/microm per finger was measured.
- Demonstrated the potential to estimate cell monolayer force distributions from adherens junction images.
Conclusions:
- Adherens junction length serves as a sensitive indicator of cellular force.
- The measured spring constant provides a quantitative measure of AJ mechanics.
- This work offers a novel imaging-based approach for assessing forces within cell monolayers.
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