Mechanical basis of cell shape: investigations with the scanning acoustic microscope

The shape of cells during interphase in sparse cultures often resembles that of fried eggs. XTH-2 cells, which have been derived from tadpole heart endothelia, provide a typical example of this type of shape. To understand the physical basis of this shape, the cytoskeleton of these cells has been investigated in detail. Subcellular elasticity data have been achieved by scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM). Their changes were observed during treatment of the cells with microtubule-disrupting agents (colcemid and low temperature), and shape generation in giant cells produced by electro-fusion was observed with SAM, revealing the role of the nucleus as a force centering organelle. From these observations combined with well-documented observations on cellular dynamics described in the literature, a model is developed explaining the fried-egg shape of cells by means of interacting forces and fluxes (cortical flow, bulk flow of cytoplasm, microtubule-mediated transport of cytoplasm) of cytoplasm. The model also allows the comprehension of the increase of tension in cells treated with colcemid.