This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: biophysj.104.049965v1 88/1/670    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Pesen, D. Articles by Hoh, J. H. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Pesen, D. Articles by Hoh, J. H.

Micromechanical Architecture of the Endothelial Cell Cortex

Department of Physiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland

Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Dr. Jan H. Hoh, Dept. of Physiology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 725 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205. Tel.: 410-614-3795; E-mail: jhoh{at}jhmi.edu.

Mechanical properties of living cells are important for cell shape, motility, and cellular responses to biochemical and biophysical signals. Although these properties are predominantly determined by the cytoskeleton, relatively little is known about the mechanical organization of cells at a subcellular level. We have studied the cell cortex of bovine pulmonary artery endothelial cells (BPAECs) using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and confocal fluorescence microscopy (CFM). We show that the contrast in AFM imaging of these cells derives in large part from differences in local mechanical properties, and AFM images of BPAEC reveal the local micromechanical architecture of their apical cortex at 125 nm resolution. Mechanically the cortex in these cells is organized as a polygonal mesh at two length scales: a coarse mesh with mesh element areas 0.5–10 µm², and a finer mesh with areas <0.5 µm². These meshes appear to be intertwined, which may have interesting implications for the mechanical properties of the cell. Correlated AFM-CFM experiments and pharmacological treatments reveal that actin and vimentin are components of the coarse mesh, but microtubules are not mechanical components of the BPAEC apical cortex.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. Sanchez, N. Johnson, C. Li, P. Novak, J. Rheinlaender, Y. Zhang, U. Anand, P. Anand, J. Gorelik, G. I. Frolenkov, et al. Noncontact Measurement of the Local Mechanical Properties of Living Cells Using Pressure Applied via a Pipette Biophys. J., September 15, 2008; 95(6): 3017 - 3027. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. T. Arce, J. L. Whitlock, A. A. Birukova, K. G. Birukov, M. F. Arnsdorf, R. Lal, J. G. N. Garcia, and S. M. Dudek Regulation of the Micromechanical Properties of Pulmonary Endothelium by S1P and Thrombin: Role of Cortactin Biophys. J., July 15, 2008; 95(2): 886 - 894. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. Roca-Cusachs, J. Alcaraz, R. Sunyer, J. Samitier, R. Farre, and D. Navajas Micropatterning of Single Endothelial Cell Shape Reveals a Tight Coupling between Nuclear Volume in G1 and Proliferation Biophys. J., June 15, 2008; 94(12): 4984 - 4995. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]