title: Multiple-Particle-Tracking to investigate viscoelastic properties in living cells.
abstract: Cell mechanical properties play an important role in determining many cellular activities. Passive microrheology techniques, such as Multiple-Particle-Tracking (MPT) give an insight into the structural rearrangements and viscoelastic response of a wide range of materials, in particular soft materials and complex fluids like cell cytoplasm in living cells. The technique finds an important field of application in large cells such as oocytes where, during their growth, several organelles and molecules are displaced in specific territories of the cell instrumental for later embryonic development. To measure cell mechanics, cells are usually deformed by many techniques that are slow and often invasive. To overcome these limits, the MPT technique is applied. Probe particles are embedded in the viscoelastic sample and their properties are extracted from the thermal fluctuation spectra measured using digital video-microscopy. The Brownian motion of a probe particle immersed in a network is directly related to the network's mechanical properties. Particles exhibit larger motions when their local environments are less rigid or less viscous. The mean-square-displacement (MSD) of the particle's trajectory is used to quantify its amplitude of motions over different time scales.
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, University of Naples Federico II, via Cinthia, Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Lara
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Selvaggi
authors.forename: Marinella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salemme
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vaccaro
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pesce
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rusciano
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sasso
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Campanella
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Carotenuto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001703:Biophysics / Q000379:methods*; D019556:COS Cells; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D003584:Cytological Techniques; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D004548:Elasticity; D018715:Microscopy, Video / Q000379:methods; D008954:Models, Biological; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes / Q000378:metabolism; D009865:Oocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D010316:Particle Size; D012212:Rheology; D014783:Viscosity; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes