An investigation of the viscoelastic behavior of MCF-10A and MCF-7 cells

Breast cancer is the most frequent female malignancy in the world. In this regard, cancer detection by assessing the biomechanical properties of cells is a promising method in oncology. Cell state can be identified by studying viscosity behavior; however, a more complex understanding of cells requires a profound insight into the solidity and fluidity of cells via the characterization of cell viscoelasticity. The present study aimed to compare the viscoelasticity of healthy human breast epithelial cells (MCF-10A) with that of cancerous cells (MCF 7). The experiment included the addition of nano magnetic particles (NMP) to the cell culture environment and placement of the Petri Dishes under a microscope after the completion of primary culture stages and, ultimately, adoption of a magnetic tweezer technique to perform a creep test. A viscoelastic model of cells was suggested with discrete differential equations for both groups of healthy and cancerous cells after obtaining information about cell membrane movements and performing image processes on these data. A comparison of cell stiffness was made under two conditions of static and dynamic. According to the findings, cancerous static stiffness was lower than that of healthy cells by a factor of 3.5. The creep test results showed that MCF 7 cells would exhibit solid-like behavior. At a higher gel point frequency, these cells emerged more solidity compared to their corresponding healthy cells. The obtained results revealed the clear changes in cancerous cells' viscoelastic properties and the potential alterations of their cytoskeleton.