Title
Mechanical characterization of cancer cell nuclei in situ
Abstract
While reduced whole cell stiffness has long been used to identify cancerous cells, cancer progression usually results in enhanced nuclear deformability as well. However, previous studies on nuclear mechanical properties were conducted either on isolated nuclei or intact nuclei indirectly, and intracellular characterization in situ has been missing. In this paper, an AFM technique to study nuclear mechanics in situ is shown. Using this technique we demonstrated that isolated nuclei exhibited significantly lower Young's moduli than intact nuclei in situ (8.64 ± 1.36 kPa vs. 78.46 ± 14.88 kPa, p=0.0001), and we characterized and compared the mechanical properties of nuclei in situ between RT4 and T24 cells with different metastatic potential. It was quantitatively demonstrated that the cell nuclei were significantly stiffer than the cytoplasm, and that intact nuclei of RT4 exhibited significantly higher stiffness than that of T24 cells (8.4 ± 1.02 kPa vs. 5.67 ± 0.48 kPa, p<;0.03). These results may provide insight into the mechanisms by which the nuclear mechanics influences cell function, contributing to cancer development.
Year
DOI
Venue
2014
10.1109/NEMS.2014.6908900
Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems
Keywords
DocType
ISSN
young's modulus,atomic force microscopy,biomechanics,cancer,cellular biophysics,radioisotope imaging,afm technique,rt4 cells,t24 cells,youngs moduli,cancer cell nuclei,isolated nuclei,mechanical characterization,mechanical property,metastatic potential,nuclear mechanics,young s modulus,force
Conference
2474-3747
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
0
0.34
0
Authors
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
h liu141.91
Jun Wen252.34
Jun Liu391.59
sevan hopyan400.34
Craig A. Simmons5101.41
Yu Sun641869.89