Berlin 2008 – wissenschaftliches Programm
Bereiche | Tage | Auswahl | Suche | Downloads | Hilfe
BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 7: Posters I
BP 7.32: Poster
Montag, 25. Februar 2008, 17:00–19:30, Poster A
High-resolution probing of active cellular traction forces — Daisuke Mizuno1, Rommel Bacabac2, Catherine Tardin2, David Head3, and •Christoph F. Schmidt4 — 1Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan — 2Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands — 3University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan — 4Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany
Living cells mechanically probe their environment, which can consist of an extracellular matrix to which they adhere or of other cells. The response of the environment directly affects internal regulatory processes. In this study, we have quantitated the active traction force of mechano-sensitive osteocyte-like cells (MLO-Y4) in a simple suspended geometry with a pair of optical traps of adjustable stiffness. By alternatingly actively probing the cells with an oscillating force and passively observing shape fluctuations, we could detect forces generated by the cells and at the same time follow the change of their mechanical properties. We found that intracellularly generated force was more efficiently transmitted to the sites of adhesion between the cell and the probes when the traps were stiffer than the cell. We propose that cells sense the elastic response of their surroundings by using their own stiffness as a reference.