Caselli Niccolò, García-Verdugo Mario, Calero Macarena, Hernando-Ospina Natalia, Santiago José A, Herráez-Aguilar Diego, Monroy Francisco
Departamento de Química Física, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
Translational Biophysics, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Hospital Doce de Octubre, 28041 Madrid, Spain.
iScience. 2024 May 8;27(6):109915. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109915. eCollection 2024 Jun 21.
Red blood cells possess a singular mechanobiology, enabling efficient navigation through capillaries smaller than their own size. Their plasma membrane exhibits non-equilibrium shape fluctuation, often reported as enhanced flickering activity. Such active membrane motion is propelled by motor proteins that mediate interactions between the spectrin skeleton and the lipid bilayer. However, modulating the flickering in living red blood cells without permanently altering their mechanical properties represents a significant challenge. In this study, we developed holographic optical tweezers to generate a force field distributed along the equatorial membrane contour of individual red blood cells. In free-standing red blood cells, we observed heterogeneous flickering activity, attributed to localized membrane kickers. By employing holographic optical forces, these active kickers can be selectively halted under minimal invasion. Our findings shed light on the dynamics of membrane flickering and established a manipulation tool that could open new avenues for investigating mechanotransduction processes in living cells.
红细胞具有独特的力学生物学特性，能够在比自身尺寸小的毛细血管中高效穿行。它们的质膜呈现非平衡形状波动，通常表现为增强的闪烁活动。这种活跃的膜运动由介导血影蛋白骨架与脂质双层之间相互作用的马达蛋白推动。然而，在不永久改变其力学性质的情况下调节活红细胞中的闪烁是一项重大挑战。在本研究中，我们开发了全息光镊以产生沿单个红细胞赤道膜轮廓分布的力场。在独立的红细胞中，我们观察到异质闪烁活动，这归因于局部膜跳动器。通过利用全息光力，这些活跃的跳动器可以在最小侵入的情况下被选择性地停止。我们的研究结果揭示了膜闪烁的动力学，并建立了一种操纵工具，可为研究活细胞中的机械转导过程开辟新途径。
