Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 30: Posters: Physics of Cells

BP 30.1: Poster

Thursday, March 17, 2011, 17:15–20:00, P3

Platelets on Micropatterned Surfaces — •Rabea Sandmann, Sarah Henriques G. Schwarz, and Sarah Köster — Courant Research Centre Nano-Spectroscopy and X-Ray Imaging, University of Göttingen, Germany

Stress fiber formation - the process of force generation in cells - depends on the substrate: Blood platelets on glass (50-90 GPa) show distinct stress fibers, which is not the case for soft polyacrylamid substrates (19 kPa). Platelets are essential for blood clotting and wound healing. Malfunctional platelets are the origin of many diseases like artherothrombosis. Despite of their important function in mammals, the composition of platelets is simple as they lack a nucleus. This renders them a convenient modell system to study mechanosensing and mechanotransduction of cells. During the activation process (part of blood clotting) the platelets’ contractile cytoskeleton exerts forces upon the environment. However, the mechanisms of force generation are still unclear. In order to investigate the influence of substrate topology and chemistry on stress fiber generation in platelets, we structure polydimethylsiloxane substrates with patterns ranging from 0.5  µ m to 2.5  µ m both topologically and chemically and stain both stress fibers and focal adhesions at certain time points of activation.