Optical twisting to monitor the rheology of single cells.

Optical twisting to monitor the rheology of single cells. Biorheology. 2016 May 26; Authors: de Saint Vincent MR Abstract We developed an optical method allowing to probe the temporal evolution of power-law rheology of single cells. The method consists in applying optically a constant mechanical torque to a birefringent microparticle bound to the cell membrane. The deformation dynamics of the membrane follows a power law of time, which directly relates to cytoskeletal prestress as reported in the literature. We monitored the temporal evolution of this rheological behaviour, over time scales of several minutes, on single adherent cells not subject to any specific treatment. The consistent observation of strong variations of the exponent suggests that, in their normal activity, living cells modulate their prestress by up to three orders of magnitude within minutes. PMID: 27231840 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Biorheology - Category: Biochemistry Tags: Biorheology Source Type: research