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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 9: Poster Session Ib
BP 9.14: Poster
Monday, March 18, 2024, 18:00–20:30, Poster D
Investigating effective cell membrane tension and its dependence on substrate stiffness — •Julia Butzke1, Tina Boric1, Eva Kreysing1,3, and Kristian Franze1,2,3 — 1Institute of Medical Physics and Microtissue Engineering, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany — 2Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin, Erlangen, Germany — 3Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Cell membrane tension influences many important cell functions such as cell division or migration. It is further thought to contribute to transducing mechanical signals, such as the stiffness of the surrounding tissue, into intracellular responses via mechanosensitive ion channels embedded in the membrane. However, how a change in tissue stiffness activates mechanosensitive ion channels in the cell membrane is still not fully understood. In this project, we investigate the effective membrane tension of different cell lines using an optical tweezers setup for membrane tether pulling experiments. We examine cells cultured on glass as well as on polyacrylamide substrates of biologically relevant stiffnesses in order to illuminate how substrate stiffness affects the effective membrane tension. Furthermore, we analyze the correlation between the effective membrane tension and the expression and activity of mechanosensitive ion channels. Our work will contribute to understanding how mechanosensitive ion channels are gated, which may have important implications for drug design in the future.
Keywords: mechanobiology; mechanosensing; optical tweezers; substrate stiffness; membrane tension