Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Microfluidic Device for Recreating a Tumor Microenvironment in Vitro
Published on: November 20, 2011
High heterogeneity of plasma membrane microfluidity in multidrug-resistant cancer cells
Céline Boutin1, Yann Roche, Christine Millot
1Universite de Technologie de Troyes, Laboratoire de Nanotechnologie et d'Instrumentation Optique, LRC CEA, Institut Charles Delaunay, FRE CNRS 2848, 12 rue Marie Curie, BP 2060, Troyes Cedex 10010, France.
Abstract:
Diffusion-time distribution analysis (DDA) has been used to explore the plasma membrane fluidity of multidrug-resistant cancer cells (LR73 carcinoma cells) and also to characterize the influence of various membrane agents present in the extracellular medium. DDA is a recent single-molecule technique, based on fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), well suited to retrieve local organization of cell membrane. The method was conducted on a large number of living cells, which enabled us to get a detailed overview of plasma membrane microviscosity, and plasma membrane micro-organization, between the cells of the same line. Thus, we clearly reveal the higher heterogeneity of plasma membrane in multidrug-resistant cancer cells in comparison with the nonresistant ones (denoted sensitive cells). We also display distinct modifications related to a membrane fluidity modulator, benzyl alcohol, and two revertants of multidrug resistance, verapamil and cyclosporin-A. A relation between the distribution of the diffusion-time values and the modification of membrane lateral heterogeneities is proposed.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Cellular Membranes and Drug Transport
Phospholipids arrange themselves into a bilayer, with hydrophilic heads oriented outward and hydrophobic tails facing inward.
Treatment Resistant Cancers
Carrier-Mediated Transport
Active transport involves two types of membrane-spanning transporters: uptake and efflux. Uptake transporters are expressed in the small...

