JSMEC : Vol. 45 (2002) , No. 4 Special Issue on Bioengineering pp.897-905

Specific Mechanical and Structural Responses of Cortical and Cytosolic Cytoskeleton in Living Adherent Cells

Valérie M. LAURENT¹⁾, Redouane FODIL²⁾, Patrick CAÑADAS²⁾, Emmanuelle PLANUS²⁾ and Daniel ISABEY²⁾

1) Cellular Biophysics and Biomechanics Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology/Fonctions Cellulaire et Moléculaire de l'Appareil Respiratoire et des Vaisseaux, Inserm UMR S 492. Facultés de Médecine et des Sciences et Technologie Paris XII
2) Fonctions Cellulaire et Moléculaires de l'Appareil Respiratoire et des Vaisseaux, Inserm UMR S 492. Facultés de Médecine et des Sciences et Technologie Paris XII

(Received July 16, 2002)

We studied the relation between actin structural changes and cytoskeleton mechanical properties in living adherent epithelial alveolar cells, before and during actin depolymerization. The mechanical response of adherent alveolar epithelial cells was measured using magnetic twisting cytometry and a two-component model representing the cortical and the cytosolic elastic components at equilibrium. Chemiluminescent staining of the actin cytoskeleton was performed in the same living cells to estimate the intracellular actin density distribution for each cytoskeleton component. We found that (i) cytoskeleton alterations induced by actin depolymerization differed between the cortical and cytosolic cytoskeleton components (e.g., -30% and -49%, respectively, at a stress of 31 Pa) and that (ii) the concomitant change in actin distribution was also different (e.g., actin volume decrease was -7% and -19% for the cortical and cytosolic components, respectively).

Key Words:

Magnetic Twisting Cytometry, Actin Depolymerization, Staining of Actin, GFP

	To cite this article:
	Valérie M. LAURENT, Redouane FODIL, Patrick CAÑADAS, Emmanuelle PLANUS and Daniel ISABEY, “Specific Mechanical and Structural Responses of Cortical and Cytosolic Cytoskeleton in Living Adherent Cells”, JSME International Journal Series C, Vol. 45, No. 4 (2002), pp.897-905 .

	doi:10.1299/jsmec.45.897
	JOI JST.JSTAGE/jsmec/45.897