Dresden 2014 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 20: Cell adhesion, mechanics and migration I
BP 20.3: Talk
Tuesday, April 1, 2014, 13:45–14:00, HÜL 386
Model-based Traction Force Microscopy Reveals Differential Tension in Stress Fibers — •Christoph A. Brand1,2, Jérôme R. D. Soiné1,2, Jonathan Stricker3, Patrick W. Oakes3, Margaret L. Gardel3, and Ulrich S. Schwarz1,2 — 1Institute for Theoretical Physics, Heidelberg University — 2Bioquant, Heidelberg University — 3Gordon Center for Integrative Science, University of Chicago, USA
Adherent tissue cells use self-generated mechanical forces to probe and adapt to their mechanical environment. Traction force microscopy (TFM) has been successfully employed to obtain cellular forces transmitted to elastic substrates via cell-matrix adhesions. However, traction reconstruction represents an ill-posed problem and requires regularization to estimate optimal solutions. Here we introduce a novel technique termed model-based traction force microscopy (MB-TFM) to increase the predictive power of TFM and to reduce the effect of noise. In a first step, image processing of fluorescence microscopy data for focal adhesions and the actin cytoskeleton is used to identify contractile structures and attachement points. In a second step, these data are converted into a mechanical model of the cell using recent advances in modeling whole cell contractility with an actively contracting cable network. In a third step, we optimize the intracellular tension configuration for the best agreement between measured and simulated substrate displacement fields. As a first application, we show that different types of stress fibers are characterized by different tension levels.