2026 年 21 巻 1 号 p. 25-00341
Epithelial cell layers dynamically remodel their mechanical interactions with the substrate, but the quantitative evaluation of such interfacial behavior remains challenging. Here, we employed quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) monitoring to investigate how the viscoelastic coupling between epithelial monolayers and their substrate responds to calcium chelation by ethylene glycol tetraacetic acid (EGTA), which disrupts cadherin-mediated cell–cell adhesion and mimics an epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT)-like condition. Time-resolved measurements of resonance frequency and energy dissipation were analyzed using a viscoelastic model to extract changes in apparent elastic modulus and damping ratio. EGTA treatment induced a gradual increase in apparent elasticity and a concurrent reduction in viscous damping, reflecting a transition from a strongly coupled viscoelastic state to a partially decoupled and effectively more elastic configuration. The magnitude of these responses increased with culture duration, indicating stronger collective mechanics in more mature cell layers. These findings demonstrate that QCM-D can sensitively detect dynamic alterations in the interfacial mechanical behavior of living cell layers, providing a simple and quantitative platform for investigating EMT-associated transitions and other processes involving collective mechanical remodeling.
