Proximity-induced electrodeformation and membrane capacitance coupling between cells.

Area of Science:

• Multiphysics modeling
• Bio-electromechanical systems
• Cellular biophysics

Background:

• Cell proximity influences membrane capacitance and transmembrane potential, perturbing local electric fields in cell assemblies.
• Analyzing proximity-induced capacitance coupling (CC) requires robust multiphysics approaches to understand its impact on cells.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether cell proximity-induced capacitance coupling is a minor perturbation or fundamentally affects bio-electromechanical cues.
• To characterize electrodeformation (ED) using continuum electromechanical analysis and elastic cell models.

Main Methods:

• Developed a continuum electromechanical analysis incorporating elastic cell models under steady-state electric fields.
• Analyzed the difference in ED force between paired cells and a single cell to create separation distance-orientation angle diagrams.
• Varied extracellular conductivity and compared results with oscillating electric field excitations.

Main Results:

• A separation distance-orientation angle diagram revealed critical distances beyond which cell interactions become negligible for ED.
• Observed an attenuation-amplification transition in ED force, indicating anisotropy due to cell pair orientation relative to the electric field.
• Demonstrated that extracellular conductivity significantly alters the ED force diagram.

Conclusions:

• Cell proximity and orientation angle strongly influence electrodeformation and capacitance coupling, affecting bio-electromechanical cues.
• Extracellular conductivity modulates these interactions, highlighting its importance in cellular electromechanical behavior.
• Findings offer insights into the electromechanical properties of engineered tissues and potential for further assessment.