Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 9: Physics of Cells I
BP 9.7: Talk
Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 11:30–11:45, H43
Probing mechanical characteristics of differentiating pluripotent mouse stem cells — •Lena A. Lautscham1, Thomas Schulz2, Ahmed Mansouri2, Christoph F. Schmidt1, and Florian Rehfeldt1 — 1Drittes Physikalisches Institut, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany — 2Molecular Cell Differentiation Group, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany
In the last decade it has become increasingly evident that local micro-environments of living cells differ significantly, not only in biochemical composition, but also in their mechanical properties. The physical characteristics of different tissue and cell types (e.g. muscle, neurons, osteoblasts) correlate with the function of the various differentiated phenotypes.
It remains a challenge to accurately determine mechanical properties of cells such as their viscoelasticity, and to quantify their own active mechanical output, e.g. contractile forces generated by the cells. Our approach uses a dual optical trap by which cells are suspended between two trapped micron-sized beads. Using a combination of active and passive microrheology allows us to precisely determine physical parameters at high resolution and bandwidth and to simultaneously quantify the fluctuating forces that the cells produce.
We here present data showing distinct changes of the mechanical properties of differentiating pluripotent mouse stem cells after well-defined biochemical stimulation was applied to differentiate the cells to either muscle cells or neuronal cells.