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Single-cell biophysical study reveals deformability and internal ordering relationship in T cells
Blanca González-Bermúdez1, Hikaru Kobayashi2, Álvaro Navarrete3
1Center for Biomedical Technology, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, E-28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Spain. gustavo.plaza@upm.es and Departamento de Ciencia de Materiales, ETSI de Caminos, Canales y Puertos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, E-28040 Madrid, Spain.
Soft Matter
|June 11, 2020
Summary
Cell deformability, crucial for T cell migration, is hard to measure accurately. A new single-cell method reveals that nucleus size, not cytoskeleton, dictates T cell deformability.
Area of Science:
- Cell biology
- Biophysics
- Immunology
Background:
- Cell deformability and internal ordering are vital for cell function, especially for cells like T lymphocytes undergoing significant deformation during migration.
- Measuring cell deformability often yields high variability, obscuring links between deformability, internal organization, and cellular functions.
- Existing methods struggle to resolve individual cell variations, hindering the understanding of cell mechanics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a novel single-cell methodology for precisely measuring cell deformability and internal organization.
- To identify key cellular parameters that govern deformability within a cell population.
- To investigate the relationship between nuclear and cytoskeletal structure and the deformability of mouse CD4+ T cells.
Main Methods:
- Development of a single-cell technique integrating micropipette aspiration for living-cell deformability measurements.
- Simultaneous three-dimensional confocal microscopy to analyze nuclear and cytoskeletal architecture.
- Application of the combined methodology to a population of mouse CD4+ T cells.
Main Results:
- The developed single-cell approach effectively characterizes cell deformability, revealing parameters not evident in population-averaged data.
- Mouse CD4+ T cell deformability was found to be predominantly determined by the relative size of the nucleus.
- Nuclear size proved to be a more significant determinant of deformability than other geometrical or cytoskeletal features.
Conclusions:
- A robust single-cell method enables accurate assessment of cell deformability and its underlying structural determinants.
- Nucleus size is a critical factor influencing the deformability of CD4+ T cells during processes like extravasation and migration.
- This technique offers a powerful tool for dissecting cell mechanics and function in heterogeneous cell populations.
