title: Three-dimensional force microscopy of cells in biopolymer networks.
abstract: We describe a technique for the quantitative measurement of cell-generated forces in highly nonlinear three-dimensional biopolymer networks that mimic the physiological situation of living cells. We computed forces of MDA-MB-231 breast carcinoma cells from the measured network deformations around the cells using a finite-element approach based on a constitutive equation that captures the complex mechanical properties of diverse biopolymers such as collagen gels, fibrin gels and Matrigel. Our measurements show that breast carcinoma cells cultured in collagen gels generated nearly constant forces regardless of the collagen concentration and matrix stiffness. Furthermore, time-lapse force measurements showed that these cells migrated in a gliding motion with alternating phases of high and low contractility, elongation, migratory speed and persistence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Steinwachs
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Claus
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Metzner
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Skodzek
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Nadine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Ingo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Thievessen
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mark
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Physics, Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Münster
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
authors.forename: Katerina E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Aifantis
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fabry
mesh_terms: D001704:Biopolymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D001704:Biopolymers