Regensburg 2022 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 12: Poster 2

BP 12.16: Poster

Tuesday, September 6, 2022, 17:30–19:30, P4

Development of a platform for accessing the membrane tension of cells in microchannels — •Eric Sündermann, Bob Fregin, Doreen Biedenweg, Stefanie Spiegler, and Oliver Otto — ZIK HIKE, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

Real-time deformability cytometry (RT-DC) is a biomechanical method which is able to characterise the physical properties of cells. To do so, the cells travel through a microfluidic chip assembled on an inverted microscope. Every cell is imaged by a high-speed camera, and its shape is fitted to calculate the deformation. While the acting stress and cell tension can be derived from hydrodynamic simulations we can not disentangle different tension contributors.
Here, we introduce a new method of directly accessing the membrane tension of a cell, passing a microfluidic constriction. Measurements are carried out in a microfluidic channel, and the cells are illuminated with a pulsed laser. The cells were stained with the Flipper-TR probe, which has a fluorescent lifetime depending on the membrane tension. The signal is acquired with a fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) point detector.
In preliminary experiments, we measure the membrane tension and simultaneously image the cells to perform RT-DC leading to the cell mechanical properties. Having access to the ensemble mechanical properties of a cell as well as its membrane tension, the method allows for studying the interaction between the latter and the derived cortex tension. In future studies, we also want to investigate the tension distribution on the cell membrane.