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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 5, 2026

Author Spotlight: Non-Contact Measurement of Tissue Mechanics in Live Chick Embryos Using Brillouin Microscopy

Author Spotlight: Non-Contact Measurement of Tissue Mechanics in Live Chick Embryos Using Brillouin Microscopy

Published on: November 10, 2023

Quantifying cell-generated mechanical forces within living embryonic tissues.

Otger Campàs¹, Tadanori Mammoto², Sean Hasso²

¹1] School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. [2] Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. [3] Vascular Biology Program, Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. [4] Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. [5].

|December 10, 2013

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers developed a new method to measure cell-generated mechanical forces in living embryonic tissues. This technique quantifies cellular stresses, revealing insights into tissue morphogenesis and organ formation.

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Area of Science:

Biophysics
Developmental Biology
Cell Mechanics

Background:

Cell-generated mechanical forces are crucial for embryonic tissue morphogenesis and organ formation.
Measuring these forces within developing 3D embryonic tissues in vivo has been a significant challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop and validate a novel method for quantifying local cell-generated mechanical stresses within living embryonic tissues.
To investigate the magnitude and characteristics of anisotropic stresses in specific embryonic cell types.

Main Methods:

Utilized fluorescent, cell-sized oil microdroplets with defined mechanical properties and coated with adhesion receptor ligands.
Introduced microdroplets into living embryonic tissues and measured their shape deformations via fluorescence microscopy and computerized image analysis to determine local stresses.
Quantified anisotropic stresses in mammary epithelial cells and embryonic tooth mesenchyme cells.

Main Results:

Successfully quantified cell-generated mechanical stresses within 3D embryonic tissues in vivo.
Mammary epithelial cells in 3D aggregates generated anisotropic stresses of 3.4 nN μm(-2), dependent on myosin II activity.
These stresses were more than twofold larger than those generated by embryonic tooth mesenchyme cells in aggregates or developing mouse mandibles.

Conclusions:

The developed microdroplet method enables in vivo measurement of cell-generated mechanical stresses in embryonic tissues.
Cellular mechanical forces, particularly those involving myosin II, significantly influence tissue morphogenesis and vary between different embryonic cell types.