Matching Items (2)
Description
The atomic force microscope (AFM) is capable of directly probing the mechanics of samples with length scales from single molecules to tissues and force scales from pico to micronewtons. In particular, AFM is widely used as a tool to measure the elastic modulus of soft biological samples by collecting force-indentation relationships and fitting these to classic elastic contact models. However, the analysis of raw force-indentation data may be complicated by mechanical heterogeneity present in biological systems. An analytical model of an elastic indentation on a bonded two-layer sample was solved. This may be used to account for substrate effects and more generally address experimental design for samples with varying elasticity. This model was applied to two mechanobiology systems of interest. First, AFM was combined with confocal laser scanning fluorescence microscopy and finite element analysis to examine stiffness changes during the initial stages of invasion of MDA-MB-231 metastatic breast cells into bovine collagen I matrices. It was determined that the cells stiffen significantly as they invade, the amount of stiffening is correlated with the elastic modulus of the collagen gel, and inhibition of Rho-associated protein kinase reduces the elastic modulus of the invading cells. Second, the elastic modulus of cancer cell nuclei was investigated ex situ and in situ. It was observed that inhibition of histone deacetylation to facilitate chromatin decondenstation result in significantly more morphological and stiffness changes in cancerous cells compared to normal cells. The methods and results presented here offer novel strategies for approaching biological systems with AFM and demonstrate its applicability and necessity in studying cellular function in physiologically relevant environments.
ContributorsDoss, Bryant Lee (Author) / Ros, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Lindsay, Stuart (Committee member) / Nikkhah, Mehdi (Committee member) / Beckstein, Oliver (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Mechanical properties of cells are important in maintaining physiological functions of biological systems. Quantitative measurement and analysis of mechanical properties can help understand cellular mechanics and its functional relevance and discover physical biomarkers for diseases monitoring and therapeutics.
This dissertation presents a work to develop optical methods for studying cell mechanics which encompasses four applications. Surface plasmon resonance microscopy based optical method has been applied to image intracellular motions and cell mechanical motion. This label-free technique enables ultrafast imaging with extremely high sensitivity in detecting cell deformation. The technique was first applied to study intracellular transportation. Organelle transportation process and displacement steps of motor protein can be tracked using this method. The second application is to study heterogeneous subcellular membrane displacement induced by membrane potential (de)polarization. The application can map the amplitude and direction of cell deformation. The electromechanical coupling of mammalian cells was also observed. The third application is for imaging electrical activity in single cells with sub-millisecond resolution. This technique can fast record actions potentials and also resolve the fast initiation and propagation of electromechanical signals within single neurons. Bright-field optical imaging approach has been applied to the mechanical wave visualization that associated with action potential in the fourth application. Neuron-to-neuron viability of membrane displacement was revealed and heterogeneous subcellular response was observed.
All these works shed light on the possibility of using optical approaches to study millisecond-scale and sub-nanometer-scale mechanical motions. These studies revealed ultrafast and ultra-small mechanical motions at the cellular level, including motor protein-driven motions and electromechanical coupled motions. The observations will help understand cell mechanics and its biological functions. These optical approaches will also become powerful tools for elucidating the interplay between biological and physical functions.
This dissertation presents a work to develop optical methods for studying cell mechanics which encompasses four applications. Surface plasmon resonance microscopy based optical method has been applied to image intracellular motions and cell mechanical motion. This label-free technique enables ultrafast imaging with extremely high sensitivity in detecting cell deformation. The technique was first applied to study intracellular transportation. Organelle transportation process and displacement steps of motor protein can be tracked using this method. The second application is to study heterogeneous subcellular membrane displacement induced by membrane potential (de)polarization. The application can map the amplitude and direction of cell deformation. The electromechanical coupling of mammalian cells was also observed. The third application is for imaging electrical activity in single cells with sub-millisecond resolution. This technique can fast record actions potentials and also resolve the fast initiation and propagation of electromechanical signals within single neurons. Bright-field optical imaging approach has been applied to the mechanical wave visualization that associated with action potential in the fourth application. Neuron-to-neuron viability of membrane displacement was revealed and heterogeneous subcellular response was observed.
All these works shed light on the possibility of using optical approaches to study millisecond-scale and sub-nanometer-scale mechanical motions. These studies revealed ultrafast and ultra-small mechanical motions at the cellular level, including motor protein-driven motions and electromechanical coupled motions. The observations will help understand cell mechanics and its biological functions. These optical approaches will also become powerful tools for elucidating the interplay between biological and physical functions.
ContributorsYang, Yunze (Author) / Tao, Nongjian (Thesis advisor) / Wang, Shaopeng (Committee member) / Goryll, Michael (Committee member) / Si, Jennie (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016