Using cell monolayer rheology to probe average single cell mechanical properties

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Sander, Mathias | Flesch, Julia | Ott, Albrecht^{; *}

Affiliations: Biological Experimental Physics, Department of Physics FR 7.2, Saarland University, Germany

Correspondence: [*] Address for correspondence: Albrecht Ott, Lehrstuhl fuer Biologische Experimentalphysik, Saarland University, Campus B2.1, Am Stadtwald 1, 66123 Saarbruecken, Germany. Tel.: +49 681 302 68554; E-mail: albrecht.ott@physik.uni-saarland.de.

Abstract: The cell monolayer rheology technique consists of a commercial rotational rheometer that probes the mechanical properties of a monolayer of isolated cells. So far we have described properties of an entire monolayer. In this short communication, we show that we can deduce average single cell properties. Results are in very good agreement with earlier work on single cell mechanics. Our approach provides a mean of 105–106 adherent cells within a single experiment. This makes the results very reproducible. We extend our work on cell adhesion strength and deduce cell adhesion forces of fibroblast cells on fibronectin coated glass substrates.

Keywords: Cytoskeleton, oscillatory shear, cell viscoelasticity, cell adhesion, single cell mechanics

DOI: 10.3233/BIR-15070

Journal: Biorheology, vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 269-278, 2015