Dresden 2017 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 9: Posters - Cell Mechanics

BP 9.7: Poster

Monday, March 20, 2017, 17:30–19:30, P3

The mechanical framework of cells: Modeling eukaryotic cells as thick-shell multilayer elastic materials — •Constantin D. C. Kohl and Christoph F. Schmidt — 1Drittes Physikalisches Institut, Fakultät für Physik, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen

Cells are complex mechanical entities. They respond passively and actively to forces exerted by their environment, and, as active materials, they probe their surroundings by exerting forces. To understand such processes, one needs a detailed quantitative model describing the mechanical properties of a cell. Components of such a model will be the external lipid bilayer, the polymeric actin cortex, and the inner cytoplasmic structures, including the microtubule network, intermediate filaments, membraneous compartments and the nucleus. An important quantity controlling cell volume is the osmotic pressure. Internal osmolyte concentration and its regulation by transport processes plays a crucial role for the mechanical properties of the cell. Most existing cell models do not consider the osmotic pressure in cells that are exposed to mechanical forces. We present finite element simulations where we model the cell as a thick-shell multiple layer object with spherical symmetry. In our model, we vary the elastic properties and the thickness of the different shell compartments and include osmotic pressure. We indent the cell by beads and investigate the resulting force curves.