Dresden 2014 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 38: Active cell and tissue mechanics (focus session) II

BP 38.6: Talk

Thursday, April 3, 2014, 16:45–17:00, HÜL 386

The mechanics of cultured cell monolayers — •Guillaume Charras — University College London, London, UK

One-cell thick monolayers are the simplest tissues in multi-cellular organisms, yet they fulfil critical roles in development and normal physiology. In early development, embryonic morphogenesis results largely from monolayer rearrangement and deformation due to internally generated forces. Later, monolayers act as physical barriers separating the internal environment from the exterior and must withstand externally applied forces. Though resisting and generating mechanical forces is an essential part of monolayer function, simple experimental methods to characterise monolayer mechanical properties are lacking. Using a novel tensile testing system that enables examination of monolayer mechanics at subcellular, cellular and tissue-scales, we provide measurements of monolayer elasticity and show that this is two orders of magnitude larger than the elasticity of their isolated cellular components. Monolayers could withstand more than a doubling in length before failing through rupture of intercellular junctions. Measurement of stress at fracture enabled a first estimation of the average force needed to separate cells within truly mature monolayers, ~9-fold larger than measured in pairs of isolated cells. As in single cells, monolayer mechanical properties were strongly dependent on the integrity of the actin cytoskeleton, myosin, and intercellular adhesions interfacing adjacent cells. This multiscale study of monolayer response to deformation enabled by our novel device provides the first quantitative investigation of the link between monolayer biology and mechanics.