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Updated: Mar 22, 2026
Author Spotlight: Non-Contact Measurement of Tissue Mechanics in Live Chick Embryos Using Brillouin Microscopy
Published on: November 10, 2023
A toolbox to explore the mechanics of living embryonic tissues
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA; Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA; California Nanosystems Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
Abstract:
The sculpting of embryonic tissues and organs into their functional morphologies involves the spatial and temporal regulation of mechanics at cell and tissue scales. Decades of in vitro work, complemented by some in vivo studies, have shown the relevance of mechanical cues in the control of cell behaviors that are central to developmental processes, but the lack of methodologies enabling precise, quantitative measurements of mechanical cues in vivo have hindered our understanding of the role of mechanics in embryonic development. Several methodologies are starting to enable quantitative studies of mechanics in vivo and in situ, opening new avenues to explore how mechanics contributes to shaping embryonic tissues and how it affects cell behavior within developing embryos. Here we review the present methodologies to study the role of mechanics in living embryonic tissues, considering their strengths and drawbacks as well as the conditions in which they are most suitable.
