Berlin 2012 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 17: Posters: Physics of Cells
BP 17.9: Poster
Wednesday, March 28, 2012, 17:30–19:30, Poster A
Analysis of cell-substrate impedance fluctuations induced by motile cells — •Helmar Leonhardt1, Carsten Beta2, and Matthias Gerhardt3 — 1Universität Potsdam, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Physik und Astronomie, Raum 2.28. 1.006 — 2Raum 2.28 1.003 — 3Raum 2.28 1.006
Electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) measures the frequency dependent impedance of a small gold electrode to ac current flow. Cells on the electrode restrict the current path, forcing it to flow under the cells and out between neighboring cells or through the cell membranes. We have applied ECIS to the social amoebae Dictyostelium discoideum during starvation conditions, where chemotactic cells aggregate in streams to clusters. The chemotactic motility of Dictyostelium cells, requiring formation and retraction of lamellipodia, is connected with cyclic periodicities in changes of cell shape and size, which lead to distinct oscillations in the impedance signal due to waves of the chemoattractant cAMP, which are emitted from pacemaker centers and propagate through the population, thereby synchronizing the movement of neighboring cells. We investigated the role of actin disrupting drugs (Latrunculin A) on the fluctuations in the impedance signal and complemented our population data with systematic single cell recordings.