Dresden 2014 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 7: Posters: Cell adhesion, mechanics and migration
BP 7.31: Poster
Monday, March 31, 2014, 17:30–19:30, P3
A real time drug-assay on individual motile cells — •Axel Hochstetter1, Eric Stellamanns2, Sravanti Uppaluri2, Niko Heddergott3, Markus Engstler3, and Thomas Pfohl1,2 — 1Departement Chemie, Universität Basel, Basel, Switzerland — 2Max-Planck-Institut für Dynamik und Selbstorganisation, Göttingen, Germany — 3Biozentrum, Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
The protozoan flagellates Trypanosoma are not only causative agents of the sleeping sickness and the Chagas' disease, but they are also a model system for cell motility. These unicellular parasites live in bodily fluids of their hosts, preferentially in the blood stream. Especially blood capillary vessels are a world of microscopic dimensions - a world at low Reynolds numbers - where our macroscopic strategies of self-propulsion just do not work. To counter this, Trypanosomes show off their fascinating and complex patterns of motility.
In order to analyse these patterns, we present a straightforward microfluidic device in which diffusion controlled concentration changes can easily be induced together with a versatile method to measure their impact on living and motile eukaryotic cells. By combining microfluidics with optical tweezers and the motile protozoan flagellate Trypanosoma brucei brucei we can directly assess how drugs and other chemicals influence cells and their motility.
Our results show that our assay can be used for a quick and easy test of the effect of almost any water-soluble drug on motile cells, even for protozoa which are normally difficult to permanently observe.