Dresden 2020 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 10: Poster III
BP 10.13: Poster
Monday, March 16, 2020, 17:30–19:30, P2/3OG
Elastic beads as cellular tension sensors within muscle tissue — •Arne Hofemeier1,2, Tamara Limon1, Till Münker1, Alejandro Jurado1, Bernhard Wallmeyer1, Penney Gilbert2, and Timo Betz1 — 1Institute of Cell Biology, University of Münster, Germany — 2Donnelly Centre, University of Toronto, Canada
Mechanical tension has recently been recognized as a key element to understand many biological processes such as cell fate determination or collective cell migration. For instance, muscle stem cells are known to strongly react to changes of physical properties of their microenvironment in vitro. However, direct experimental access to determine mechanical tension in cellular niches remains a major challenge. Here, we present a novel experimental approach that allows direct measurement of mechanical stress inside in vitro and in vivo muscle tissue. By injecting fluorescent polyacrylamide (PAA) beads of known size and elasticity into muscle tissues, we are able to measure the deformation of their surface and obtain the resulting force exerted on the bead. With this in hand, we show three applications of this novel technique. Firstly, PAA beads were incorporated into biomimetic muscle tissue in order to trace cellular tension during development and diseased tissues. Secondly, elastic beads were injected into zebrafish embryos to investigate tissue stress on muscle cells during late embryogenesis in vivo. Lastly, we transplanted PAA beads into injured EDL muscles of mice to evaluate local forces after 3 weeks of muscle regeneration for the first time.