Dresden 2009 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help
BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 4: Cell Mechanics
BP 4.8: Talk
Monday, March 23, 2009, 16:30–16:45, HÜL 186
Contribution of cytoskeletal components to the nonlinear rheology of cells — •Navid Bonakdar1, Philip Kollmannsberger1, Karen Kasza2, and Ben Fabry1 — 1Center for Medical Physics and Technology, Biophysics Group, Dept. of Physics, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany — 2School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., USA
The rheology of cells is governed by a creep or stress relaxation response that follows a weak power law over several decades in time, and a highly nonlinear stress-strain relationship, in particular a pronounced stress stiffening. In model cytoskeletal networks, stress stiffening is strongly increased in the presence of filamin A (FLNa), an F-actin crosslinker with the ability to unfold under force. The role of FLNa for the nonlinear rheology of living cells has so far not been characterized. We compared the stiffening response of a FLNa-deficient melanoma cell line (M2) and a variant stably transfected with FLNa (A7). Cell deformations in response to stepwise increasing forces applied to membrane-bound magnetic beads were analyzed using a non-linear superposition model to dissect stress relaxation from stress-stiffening responses. While stiffness and bead binding was reduced in FLNa-deficient cells, there was no difference in the degree of stress stiffening, indicating that contributions from other cytoskeletal components mask the effect of FLNa. The role of actin filaments, microtubules, intermediate filaments and myosin-generated cellular prestress in FLNa expressing and deficient cells was examined by pharmacological interventions.