Regensburg 2007 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 3: Membranes and Interfaces

BP 3.4: Talk

Monday, March 26, 2007, 15:00–15:15, H43

Lipid Nanotubes for Probing Cell Membrane Reservoir — •Darius V. Köster¹, Pierre Sens², Christophe Lamaze¹, and Pierre Nassoy¹ — ¹Institut Curie, Paris, France — ²ESPCI, Paris, France

Cells are exposed to mechanical stress due to shear flow (e.g. in veins and arteries) or stretching and relaxation (e.g. in muscle tissue). In this study, we study the mechanisms, which provide membrane integrity during these processes, since the membrane as a pure lipid bilayer would be fairly inextensible, and any stretching of it would lead to rupture. One important parameter to describe the cell membrane is its membrane tension, and it is reported that cells have membrane reservoirs, and regulate membrane tension. Pulling small tubes out of the cell membrane in using an optical trap allows us to probe these reservoirs and to measure the membrane tension. In combination with biological tools of cell modification (transfection and drug treatment) and fluorescence imaging we aim at identifying the compartments involved in membrane tension regulation. More specifically, in this work, we will focus on the role of caveolae, which are small membrane invaginations, in membrane tension buffering. To get a clear picture of their mechanical function, we will show that the interaction between membrane and cytoskeleton has to be investigated in details. Finally, we will propose that caveolae can indeed act as available membrane reservoirs for a cell membrane to accommodate sudden extend stress.