title: Aspiration of biological viscoelastic drops.
abstract: Spherical cellular aggregates are in vitro systems to study the physical and biophysical properties of tissues. We present a novel approach to characterize the mechanical properties of cellular aggregates using a micropipette aspiration technique. We observe an aspiration in two distinct regimes: a fast elastic deformation followed by a viscous flow. We develop a model based on this viscoelastic behavior to deduce the surface tension, viscosity, and elastic modulus. A major result is the increase of the surface tension with the applied force, interpreted as an effect of cellular mechanosensing.
authors.affiliation: UMR 168, Institut Curie/CNRS, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 75248 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Karine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Guevorkian
authors.forename: Marie-Josée
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Colbert
authors.forename: Mélanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Durth
authors.forename: Sylvie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dufour
authors.forename: Françoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Brochard-Wyart
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000379:methods*; D002449:Cell Aggregation; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D004548:Elasticity; D051379:Mice; D013500:Surface Tension; D014783:Viscosity