Force sensors for measuring microenvironmental forces during mesenchymal condensation

Area of Science:

• Biophysics
• Tissue Engineering
• Cell Mechanics

Background:

• Mechanical forces are critical for early tissue development.
• Quantifying the mechanical microenvironment in dense cellular structures like neotissues and organoids is challenging.
• Existing techniques are limited in measuring microscale forces within these complex systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a versatile approach for measuring microscale cellular forces during mesenchymal condensation.
• To utilize specially tailored, hyper-compliant microparticles (HCMPs) as force sensors.
• To track changes in the mechanical microenvironment during cell self-assembly and tissue formation.

Main Methods:

• Monitoring HCMP deformation over space and time to quantify cellular forces.
• Using an array analysis approach with a high-content imaging system.
• Examining cellular interactions with HCMPs, including the effect of collagen coating.

Main Results:

• Cells exert a range of tensile and compressive forces during early self-assembly, followed by equilibrium.
• Collagen coating on HCMPs enhances tensile force exertion compared to non-coated particles.
• The hyper-compliant nature of the sensors provides high precision, resolving small microenvironmental changes.

Conclusions:

• The developed HCMP technology offers a versatile platform for measuring spatiotemporal forces in cell-dense biological systems.
• This method enables precise quantification of mechanical forces during early development and morphogenesis.
• The findings advance our understanding of the role of mechanical forces in tissue formation and organoid development.