Force Measurements for Cancer Cells.
During cytoskeleton remodeling, cancer cells generate force at the plasma membrane that originates from chemical motors (e.g., actin). This force (pN) and its time course reflect the on and off-rates of the motors. We describe the design and calibration of a force-measuring device (i.e., optical tweezers) that is used to monitor this force and its time course at the edge of a cell, with particular emphasis on the temporal resolution of the instrument.
Bobby R. Alford Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.|Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
Vivek
V
Rajasekharan
Bobby R. Alford Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.|Department of Physics and Astronomy, Macquarie University, Sydney, 2109, NSW, Australia.
Varun K A
VK
Sreenivasan
Bobby R. Alford Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA. bfarrell@bcm.edu.
Brenda
B
Farrell
D000465:Algorithms; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D052898:Optical Tweezers; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio; D013696:Temperature
Actin; Cell mobility; Cytoskeleton; Filopodium; Membrane force; Membrane tube; Motor kinetics; Noise of signal; Optical tweezers; Time constant