Viscoelastic Properties of Corneal Epithelial Cells Using the « Linear Cell Monolayer Rheometer »

Orateur : Maria Consiglia MEROLA (Stanford University, USA)

Mechanical properties of cells are determined by complex intracellular structures. In other words, there is a strong connection between biological processes and cellular mechanical response to external stimuli. In fact, cells’ interactions with their living environment are affected by their own mechanical behavior during biological deformations. These interactions, notably adhesion, are crucial to understand the cells adaptation in presence of artificial material such as contact lenses or medical devices. During the last decades, different experimental techniques have been used to investigate cell mechanics. Among them, we can mention atomic force microscopy (AFM) and microrheology. While they present a great interest, these techniques are however limited since they can only probe a single cell. In order to overcome the challenges with the biological variation between individual cells, new technologies are thus necessary. In this work, we present measurements using a purpose made Linear Cell Monolayer Rheometer (LCMR) that can characterize averaged cell mechanics or averaged cell adhesion. The LCMR enables the investigation of biologically active layers : controlled amounts of live cells with or without artificial materials (e.g., contact lenses). It is used in this study to measure the mechanics of corneal epithelial cells in order to characterize how these cells mechanically deform to external stimuli. To simulate physiological conditions, cell mechanics is quantified in experiments in which cells are strained tangential to the cell monolayer. Time-dependent step-strain tests are used to determine the mechanical relaxation of the cell layers. The quantification of cell mechanics using the LCMR has the potential for multiple biomedical applications, including disease diagnosis and drug-efficacy screening.

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