Physics of Surfaces, Institute of Materials Science, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Peter-Grünberg-Str. 2, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany.
Chemische Physik, Fakultät für Naturwissenschaften, Technische Universität Chemnitz, Reichenhainer Straße 70, 09126 Chemnitz, Germany.
Soft Matter. 2023 Jun 28;19(25):4772-4779. doi: 10.1039/d2sm01685k.
The number and strength of mechanical connections of cells to their local environment can be indicative of their migration and invasion potential. Gaining direct access to the mechanical properties of individual connections and bringing them into a relationship with the state of disease, however, is a formidable task. Here, we present a method to directly sense focal adhesions and cell-cell contacts with a force sensor to quantify the lateral forces of their anchoring points. We found local lateral forces of 1.0-1.5 nN for focal adhesions and slightly higher values at the interfaces between cells where cell-cell contacts are located. Interestingly, a modified surface layer was observed exhibiting considerably reduced tip friction directly next to the area of a retracting cell edge on the substrate. We expect that this technique can improve the understanding of the relationship between mechanical properties of cell connections and the pathological state of cells in the future.
细胞与其局部环境之间机械连接的数量和强度可以表明其迁移和侵袭潜力。然而，直接获取单个连接的机械性能并将其与疾病状态联系起来是一项艰巨的任务。在这里，我们提出了一种方法，使用力传感器直接感知粘着斑和细胞-细胞接触，以量化其锚定点的侧向力。我们发现粘着斑的局部侧向力为 1.0-1.5 nN，而在细胞之间的界面处，即细胞-细胞接触所在的位置，侧向力略高。有趣的是，我们观察到在与基质上回缩细胞边缘相邻的区域，存在一个改良的表面层，其尖端摩擦力显著降低。我们预计，这项技术可以提高对细胞连接的机械性能与细胞病理状态之间关系的理解。
