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Fast Fluorescence Laser Tracking Microrheometry, II: Quantitative Studies of Cytoskeletal Mechanotransduction

Maxine Jonas ^*, Hayden Huang , Roger D. Kamm ^*  and Peter T. C. So ^* 

Departments of ^* Biological Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts

Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Maxine Jonas, E-mail: jonas_m{at}mit.edu.

Fluorescence laser tracking microrheometry (FLTM) is what we believe to be a novel method able to assess the local, frequency-dependent mechanical properties of living cells with nanometer spatial sensitivity at speeds up to 50 kHz. In an earlier article, we described the design, development, and optimization phases of the FLTM before reporting its performances in a variety of viscoelastic materials. In the work presented here, we demonstrate the suitability of FLTM to study local cellular rheology and obtain values for the storage and loss moduli G'() and G''() of fibroblasts consistent with past literature. We further establish that chemically induced cytoskeletal disruption is accompanied by reduced cellular stiffness and viscosity. Next, we provide a systematic study of some experimental variables that may critically influence microrheology measurements. First, we interrogate and justify the relevance of bead endocytosis as a method of cellular internalization of 1-µm probes in FLTM. Second, we show that as sample temperature increases, FLTM findings are elevated toward higher frequencies. Third, we confirm that relevant bead sizes (1 and 2 µm) have no effect on FLTM measurements. Fourth, we report the lack of influence of bead coatings (antiintegrin, antitransferrin, antidystroglycan, or uncoated tracers were surveyed) on their rheological readouts. Finally, we demonstrate the potential of FLTM in studying how substratum rigidity regulates cellular rheological properties. Interestingly, multiple, coupled strain relaxation mechanisms can be observed separated by two plateau moduli. Although these observations can be partly explained by rheological theories describing entangled actin filaments, there is a clear need to extend existing microrheology models to the cytoskeleton, including potentially important factors such as network geometry and remodeling.