Berlin 2012 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 17: Posters: Physics of Cells
BP 17.6: Poster
Wednesday, March 28, 2012, 17:30–19:30, Poster A
Different elasticity of left-ventricular and right-ventricular fibroblasts of DCM-patients — •Michael Glaubitz1, Stephan Block1, Jeannine Witte2, Kay E. Gottschalk3, Stephan B. Felix2, Alexander Riad2, and Christiane A. Helm4 — 1ZIK HIKE - Zentrum für Innovationskompetenz Humorale Immunreaktionen bei kardiovaskulären Erkrankungen, D-17487 Greifswald, Germany — 2Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Klinik und Poliklinik für Innere Medizin B, 17475 Greifswald — 3Institut für Experimentelle Physik, Universität Ulm, D-89069 Ulm — 4Institut für Physik, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt Universität, D-17487 Greifswald, Germany
Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a significant type of heart failure leading to increased morbidity and mortality. Left ventricular fibrosis and dilation are hallmarks of this disease. Cardiac fibroblasts (CF) are the main source for matrix regulating mediators in the heart, but their role in DCM is largely unknown. Using a colloidal particle as an AFM probe, we measure the cell elasticity of human cardiac fibroblasts derived from right and left ventricular endomyocardial biopsies. Spatially resolved measurements reveal that the elastic modulus is inhomogeneously distributed over a fibroblast, but shows less variation in the vicinity of the nucleus. By measuring at this position for several fibroblasts (of a certain patient) we observe a lognormal elastic modulus distribution. Interestingly, cells extracted from the left ventricle show generally a smaller average elastic modulus than the ones from the right side. Our findings indicate a contribution of the cellular mechanical properties to the etiology of DCM.