Human epithelial cells increase their rigidity with ageing in vitro: direct measurements.
The decrease in elasticity of epithelial tissues with ageing contributes to many human diseases. This change was previously attributed to increased crosslinking of extracellular matrix proteins. Here we show that individual human epithelial cells also become significantly more rigid during ageing in vitro. Using atomic force microscopy (AFM), we found that the Young's modulus of viable cells was consistently increased two- to four-fold in older versus younger cells. Direct visualization of the cytoskeleton using a novel method involving the AFM suggested that increased rigidity of ageing cells was due to a higher density of cytoskeletal fibres. Our results identify a unique mechanism that might contribute to the age-related loss of elasticity in epithelial tissues.
Berdyyeva
Tamara K
TK
Department of Physics, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 13699-5820, USA.
Woodworth
Craig D
CD
Sokolov
Igor
I
D000375:Aging; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D048430:Cell Shape; D048429:Cell Size; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents / Q000494:pharmacology; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force / Q000379:methods*; D008858:Microscopy, Phase-Contrast; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013997:Time Factors
D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents