SKM 2023 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 8: Cell Mechanics I

BP 8.11: Vortrag

Dienstag, 28. März 2023, 12:45–13:00, BAR Schö

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

The development of high-throughput methods for cell mechanical research is becoming increasingly important in biology, medicine and physics as the analysis of large samples opens up possibilities for basic science and clinical use. Currently, various techniques are available, but hardly any can discriminate between membrane and bulk contributions to the mechanical properties of a cell.
Here, we combined deformability cytometry with fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) to study the response of membrane tension to hydrodynamic stress. Myeloid precursor cells were first stained with Flipper-TR^®, a fluorescent dye with a lifetime proportional to the membrane tension, and then flushed through the constriction of a microfluidic chip, where they deform under a shear stress. Under steady-state conditions, our data shows that the membrane tension of cells increases with increasing hydrodynamic stress, as expected. Exposing cells to methyl-ß-cyclodextrin to reduce the amount of cholesterol in the cell membrane leads to a reduction in membrane tension while the bulk Young’s modulus is not affected.
These results highlight the potential of microfluidic technologies to quantify the contribution of different cell components to its overall mechanical phenotype.