title: Elastic properties of epithelial cells probed by atomic force microscopy.
abstract: Cellular mechanics plays a crucial role in many biological processes such as cell migration, cell growth, embryogenesis, and oncogenesis. Epithelia respond to environmental cues comprising biochemical and physical stimuli through defined changes in cell elasticity. For instance, cells can differentiate between certain properties such as viscoelasticity or topography of substrates by adapting their own elasticity and shape. A living cell is a complex viscoelastic body that not only exhibits a shell architecture composed of a membrane attached to a cytoskeleton cortex but also generates contractile forces through its actomyosin network. Here we review cellular mechanics of single cells in the context of epithelial cell layers responding to chemical and physical stimuli. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Mechanobiology.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physical Chemistry, Georg-August-University of Goettingen, Tammannstrasse 6, 37077 Goettingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Bastian R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Brückner
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physical Chemistry, Georg-August-University of Goettingen, Tammannstrasse 6, 37077 Goettingen, Germany. Electronic address: ajansho@gwdg.de.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Janshoff
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004548:Elasticity; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D006801:Humans; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D008954:Models, Biological
keywords: Atomic force microscopy; Cortical tension; Cytoskeleton; Indentation; Membrane tension