Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 8, 2025

A Microfluidic Technique to Probe Cell Deformability
Published on: September 3, 2014
Hydraulic resistance induces cell phenotypic transition in confinement
Runchen Zhao1,2, Siqi Cui1,2, Zhuoxu Ge2,3
1Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
Abstract:
Cells penetrating into confinement undergo mesenchymal-to-amoeboid transition. The topographical features of the microenvironment expose cells to different hydraulic resistance levels. How cells respond to hydraulic resistance is unknown. We show that the cell phenotype shifts from amoeboid to mesenchymal upon increasing resistance. By combining automated morphological tracking and wavelet analysis along with fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP), we found an oscillatory phenotypic transition that cycles from blebbing to short, medium, and long actin network formation, and back to blebbing. Elevated hydraulic resistance promotes focal adhesion maturation and long actin filaments, thereby reducing the period required for amoeboid-to-mesenchymal transition. The period becomes independent of resistance upon blocking the mechanosensor TRPM7. Mathematical modeling links intracellular calcium oscillations with actomyosin turnover and force generation and recapitulates experimental data. We identify hydraulic resistance as a critical physical cue controlling cell phenotype and present an approach for connecting fluorescent signal fluctuations to morphological oscillations.
More Related Videos
08:30Single Cell Durotaxis Assay for Assessing Mechanical Control of Cellular Movement and Related Signaling Events
Published on: August 27, 2019
10:04Patterning the Geometry of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Colonies on Compliant Substrates to Control Tissue-Level Mechanics
Published on: September 28, 2019
Related Concept Videos
Forced Transdifferentiation
Artificial...
Cell-matrix's Response to Mechanical Forces
Anchoring junctions mechanically attach a cell to the...
Adaptive Mechanisms in Cancer Cells
Some of the advantages that cancer cells have on normal cells include - enhanced ability to divide without terminally differentiating, induce new blood vessel formation,...
Cells Coordinate Growth and Proliferation