Bochum 2015 – scientific programme
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K: Fachverband Kurzzeitphysik
K 5: Poster
K 5.1: Poster
Tuesday, March 3, 2015, 16:30–18:30, Foyer Audimax
Nanosecond pulsed electric fields decrease cell elasticity — •Anna Steuer1, Malte U. Hammer1,2, and Juergen F. Kolb1 — 1Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP), Greifswald — 2Center for Innovation Competence (ZIK), Greifswald
The exposure of cells to nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEF) can cause different effects, depending on pulse length and field strength. Currently, nsPEF are investigated as a novel cancer therapy. As invasive cell lines generally display a lower elastic modulus than their non-invasive counterparts, we investigated the effect of nsPEF on the elasticity of rat liver epithelial WB-F344 cells in a monolayer and compared the elasticity to untreated cells and their tumorigenic counterpart WB-ras. Force-distance curves were recorded with an atomic force microscope (AFM) and the applied force was plotted against indentation of the cantilever.
We found that cells treated with 20 pulses of 100 ns and 20 kV/cm have almost the same elasticity as the tumorigenic WB-ras cells but are softer than untreated WB-F344 cells. Furthermore, we stained the actin cytoskeleton and performed a soft agar colony formation and a migration assay. Preliminary results did not show any changes. Although cell elasticity is decreased after nsPEF treatment, cells seem not to become tumorigenic or migrate faster.