title: Johnson-Kendall-Roberts theory applied to living cells.
abstract: Johnson-Kendall-Roberts (JKR) theory is an accurate model for strong adhesion energies of soft slightly deformable material. Little is known about the validity of this theory on complex systems such as living cells. We have addressed this problem using a depletion controlled cell adhesion and measured the force necessary to separate the cells with a micropipette technique. We show that the cytoskeleton can provide the cells with a 3D structure that is sufficiently elastic and has a sufficiently low deformability for JKR theory to be valid. When the cytoskeleton is disrupted, JKR theory is no longer applicable.
authors.affiliation: UMR 144, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Institut Curie, 26 rue d'Ulm, 75248 Paris Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Yeh-Shiu
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Sylvie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dufour
authors.forename: Jean Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Thiery
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Perez
authors.forename: Frederic
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pincet
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002462:Cell Membrane; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003599:Cytoskeleton; D004548:Elasticity; D008560:Membrane Fluidity; D008561:Membrane Fusion; D051379:Mice; D008846:Micromanipulation / Q000379:methods; D008954:Models, Biological; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical