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Updated: Jun 22, 2026
06:37
Protrusion Force Microscopy: A Method to Quantify Forces Developed by Cell Protrusions
Published on: June 16, 2018
High-resolution probing of cellular force transmission
Daisuke Mizuno1, Rommel Bacabac, Catherine Tardin
1Organization for the Promotion of Advanced Research, Kyushu University, 812-8581 Fukuoka, Japan.
Physical Review Letters
|June 13, 2009
Summary
Cells sense their environment
Area of Science:
- Cellular mechanobiology
- Biophysics
Background:
- Cells actively interact with their surroundings by generating forces.
- Environmental mechanical properties influence cellular functions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify forces exerted by a single cell.
- To investigate how external stiffness affects force transmission.
Main Methods:
- Developed an assay using two optical traps to suspend a cell.
- Measured both total cellular force and force transmitted to the environment.
- Varied environmental stiffness by adjusting optical trap strength.
Main Results:
- Cellular force transmission is highly dependent on external compliance (stiffness).
- A significant fraction of cellular force is modulated by the environment's mechanical properties.
Conclusions:
- Cellular force transmission is adaptable and dependent on environmental stiffness.
- This adaptability may represent a calibration mechanism for cellular mechanosensing.
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