Berlin 2015 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 16: Posters: Cell adhesion, mechanics and migration

BP 16.19: Poster

Montag, 16. März 2015, 17:30–19:30, Poster A

Characterizing the elasticity of fibroblast cell nuclei by atomic force microscopy(AFM) to characterize Lamin and TMEM43 mutations — •Sören Grannemann¹, Ann-Christin Moritzer¹, Helene Schellenberg¹, Astrid Kassner², Volker Walhorn¹, Hendrik Milting², and Dario Anselmetti¹ — ¹Biophysics, Bielefeld University,Germany — ²Heart and Diabetes Center NRW, Bad Oeynhausen,Germany

Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is an inherited heart muscle disease associated with cardiac arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death predominantly of young and athletes [1]. Mutations in the intermediate filament lamin and the protein luma are known to be related to ARVC [2,3]. Both proteins are located at the nuclear envelope. Since the cell nucleus has to resist strong mechanical stress during the contraction phase of the heart muscle, we hypothesized that the mutations affect the functional mechanical properties of the nucleus.

Hence, we explored the elastic modulus of cell nuclei with the AFM. The measurements were performed with skin fibroblasts, which serve as a model system for cardiomyocytes. We analyzed a set of lamin and luma mutated cells and compared them to a control group consisting of wild-type fibroblasts and mutations not associated with ARVC. The luma mutant showed much higher and widespread elastic moduli, whereas the elasticity of the lamin mutant is similar to the control group [4]. As luma associated ARVC exposes an explicit gender dimorphism we also investigated the impact of testosterone on the elasticity.