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Cortical stiffness of keratinocytes measured by lateral indentation with optical tweezers
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, Vol 15, Iss 12, p e0231606 (2020), PLoS ONE
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2020.
-
Abstract
- Keratin intermediate filaments are the principal structural element of epithelial cells. Their importance in providing bulk cellular stiffness is well recognized, but their role in the mechanics of cell cortex is less understood. In this study, we therefore compared the cortical stiffness of three keratinocyte lines: primary wild type cells (NHEK2), immortalized wild type cells (NEB1) and immortalized mutant cells (KEB7). The cortical stiffness was measured by lateral indentation of cells with AOD-steered optical tweezers without employing any moving mechanical elements. The method was validated on fixed cells and Cytochalasin-D treated cells to ensure that the observed variations in stiffness within a single cell line were not a consequence of low measurement precision. The measurements of the cortical stiffness showed that primary wild type cells were significantly stiffer than immortalized wild type cells, which was also detected in previous studies of bulk elasticity. In addition, a small difference between the mutant and the wild type cells was detected, showing that mutation of keratin impacts also the cell cortex. Thus, our results indicate that the role of keratins in cortical stiffness is not negligible and call for further investigation of the mechanical interactions between keratins and elements of the cell cortex.
- Subjects :
- Keratinocytes
Optical Tweezers
Cell Membranes
Cancer Treatment
Intermediate Filaments
Gene Expression
Biochemistry
Microtubules
Epithelium
Stiffness
Animal Cells
Keratin
Medicine and Health Sciences
Intermediate filament
Cytoskeleton
chemistry.chemical_classification
Multidisciplinary
Chemistry
Actin Cytoskeleton
medicine.anatomical_structure
Oncology
Organ Specificity
Physical Sciences
Keratins
Medicine
Cellular Structures and Organelles
Cellular Types
Anatomy
Keratinocyte
Research Article
Cell Physiology
Cytochalasin D
Science
Materials Science
Material Properties
macromolecular substances
Cell Line
Hardness
Cell cortex
medicine
Mechanical Properties
Humans
Actin
Wild type
Biology and Life Sciences
Proteins
Epithelial Cells
Cell Biology
Elasticity
Cytoskeletal Proteins
Biological Tissue
Cell culture
Biophysics
Cell Immortalization
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 15
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLOS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....228cd96ae0441b75a9a2ae32d1239aa4