title: Using gold nanorods to probe cell-induced collagen deformation.
abstract: In biological tissue, complex mechanisms of cellular response are closely linked to the mechanical environment that cells experience. The key to understanding these mechanisms may lie in measurement of local mechanical fields near living cells and between cells. We have developed a novel optical measurement technique which combines the light elastically scattered from gold nanorods with digital image analysis to track local deformations that occur in vitro between cells, in real time, under darkfield optical microscopy. We find that measurable tension and compression exist in the intercellular matrix at the length scale of micrometers, as the cells assess, adapt, and rearrange their environment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, USA.
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Stone
authors.forename: Patrick N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Sisco
authors.forename: Edie C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Goldsmith
authors.forename: Sarah C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Baxter
authors.forename: Catherine J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Murphy
mesh_terms: D003094:Collagen / Q000737:chemistry*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D008853:Microscopy; D015335:Molecular Probes
chemical_list: D015335:Molecular Probes; D006046:Gold; D003094:Collagen