Berlin 2012 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 2: Physics of Cells I
BP 2.9: Talk
Monday, March 26, 2012, 12:00–12:15, H 1028
Traction Force Reconstruction based on Finite Element Methods — •Jérôme Soiné1,2 and Ulrich Schwarz1,2 — 1Bioquant, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany — 2Institute for Theoretical Physics, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
Over the last decade, it has been established that tissue cells are able to sense the stiffness, geometry and topography of their adhesive environment by actively applying forces to the cell-matrix interface. Cellular forces can be reconstructed with traction force microscopy. This method combines cell culture experiments on soft elastic substrates with quantitative image processing and solution of the inverse problem of elasticity theory. Traditional approaches are based on the well-known exact Green’s function for planar linear elastic materials known as Boussinesq solution [1-3]. For non-planar substrates or non-linear material laws, this approach fails due to the lack of exact solutions. In order to overcome these limitations, we have developed a force reconstruction technique that uses a numeric optimization approach based on finite element methods. It allows us to reconstruct cellular forces for arbitrary substrate geometry and different material laws with a resolution comparable to previous approaches.
[1] Dembo and Wang, Biophysical Journal, 1999
[2] Butler et al., Am. J. Physiol. Cell Physiol., 2002
[3] Sabass et al., Biophysical Journal, 2008