CNRS, TIMC-IMAG, University Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.
Institute for Advanced Biosciences, INSERM U 1209, CNRS UMR 5309, University Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.
J Microsc. 2019 Sep;275(3):172-182. doi: 10.1111/jmi.12825. Epub 2019 Jul 22.
Living cells embedded in a complex extra-cellular matrix migrate in a sophisticated way thanks to adhesions to matrix fibres and contractility. It is important to know what kind of forces are exerted by the cells. Here, we use reflectance confocal microscopy to locate fibres accurately and determine displacement fields. Correlation techniques are used to this aim, coupled with proper digital image processing. Benchmark tests validate the method in the case of shear and stretching motions. Finally, the method is tested successfully for studying cancer cells migrating in collagen gels of different concentration.
活细胞嵌入在复杂的细胞外基质中，通过与基质纤维的黏附以及收缩来进行复杂的迁移。了解细胞施加的力的种类是很重要的。在这里，我们使用反射式共聚焦显微镜来准确地定位纤维并确定位移场。为此目的，我们使用相关技术，并结合适当的数字图像处理。在剪切和拉伸运动的情况下，基准测试验证了该方法的有效性。最后，该方法成功地用于研究在不同浓度的胶原凝胶中迁移的癌细胞。
