title: The use of optical trap and microbeam to investigate the mechanical and transport characteristics of tunneling nanotubes in tumor spheroids.
abstract: The use of optical trap and microbeam for investigating mechanical and transport properties of inter cellular tunneling nanotubes (TnTs) in tumor spheroids has been demonstrated. TnTs in tumor spheroids have been visualized by manipulating TnT connected cells using optical tweezers. Functionality of the TnTs for transferring cytoplasmic vesicles and injected dye molecules by optoporation method has been studied. Further, the TnTs could be longitudinally stretched by manipulating the connected cells and their elastic response was studied. Manipulation of cells at the surface of tumor spheroid using optical tweezers and injection of fluorescent dye into a trapped cell using optoporation technique.
authors.affiliation: Laser Biomedical Applications and Instrumentation Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, 452013, India. ppatheja@rrcat.gov.in.
authors.forename: Pooja
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Patheja
authors.affiliation: Laser Biomedical Applications and Instrumentation Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, 452013, India. raktim.dasgupta@mpikg.mpg.de.|Department of Theory and Bio-systems, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, 14476, Potsdam, Germany. raktim.dasgupta@mpikg.mpg.de.
authors.forename: Raktim
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dasgupta
authors.affiliation: Laser Biomedical Applications and Instrumentation Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, 452013, India.
authors.forename: Alok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dube
authors.affiliation: Laser Biomedical Applications and Instrumentation Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, 452013, India.
authors.forename: Sunita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahlawat
authors.affiliation: Laser Biomedical Applications and Instrumentation Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, 452013, India.
authors.forename: Ravi Shanker
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Verma
authors.affiliation: Laser Biomedical Applications and Instrumentation Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, 452013, India.
authors.forename: Pradeep Kumar
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Gupta
mesh_terms: D001692:Biological Transport; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002450:Cell Communication; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D006801:Humans; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D061848:Optical Imaging; D052898:Optical Tweezers; D018874:Spheroids, Cellular / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: cell membrane extensions; multicellular spheroids; optical tweezers; squamous cell carcinoma