Micropipette aspiration of living cells - PubMed

Review

Micropipette aspiration of living cells

R M Hochmuth. J Biomech. 2000 Jan.

Abstract

The mechanical behavior of living cells is studied with micropipette suction in which the surface of a cell is aspirated into a small glass tube while tracking the leading edge of its surface. Such edges can be tracked in a light microscope to an accuracy of +/-25 nm and suction pressures as small as 0.1-0.2 pN/microm2 can be imposed on the cell. Both soft cells, such as neutrophils and red cells, and more rigid cells, such as chondrocytes and endothelial cells, are studied with this technique. Interpretation of the measurements with basic continuum models leads to values for a cell's elastic and viscous properties. In particular, neutrophils are found to behave as a liquid drop with a cortical (surface) tension of about 30 pN/microm and a viscosity on the order of 100 Pa s. On the other hand, chondrocytes and endothelial cells behave as solids with an elastic modulus of the order of 500 pN/microm2 (0.5 kPa).

Similar articles

• An axisymmetric boundary integral model for assessing elastic cell properties in the micropipette aspiration contact problem.

  Haider MA, Guilak F. Haider MA, et al. J Biomech Eng. 2002 Oct;124(5):586-95. doi: 10.1115/1.1504444. J Biomech Eng. 2002. PMID: 12405602

• Large deformation finite element analysis of micropipette aspiration to determine the mechanical properties of the chondrocyte.

  Baaijens FP, Trickey WR, Laursen TA, Guilak F. Baaijens FP, et al. Ann Biomed Eng. 2005 Apr;33(4):494-501. doi: 10.1007/s10439-005-2506-3. Ann Biomed Eng. 2005. PMID: 15909655

• The deformation behavior and mechanical properties of chondrocytes in articular cartilage.

  Guilak F, Jones WR, Ting-Beall HP, Lee GM. Guilak F, et al. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 1999 Jan;7(1):59-70. doi: 10.1053/joca.1998.0162. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 1999. PMID: 10367015 Review.

• Measuring the mechanical properties of individual human blood cells.

  Hochmuth RM. Hochmuth RM. J Biomech Eng. 1993 Nov;115(4B):515-9. doi: 10.1115/1.2895533. J Biomech Eng. 1993. PMID: 8302034 Review.

Cited by

• Characterizing deformability and surface friction of cancer cells.

  Byun S, Son S, Amodei D, Cermak N, Shaw J, Kang JH, Hecht VC, Winslow MM, Jacks T, Mallick P, Manalis SR. Byun S, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 May 7;110(19):7580-5. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1218806110. Epub 2013 Apr 22. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013. PMID: 23610435 Free PMC article.

• Measurement of adhesion and traction of cells at high yield reveals an energetic ratchet operating during nephron condensation.

  Liu J, Prahl LS, Huang AZ, Hughes AJ. Liu J, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Sep 24;121(39):e2404586121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2404586121. Epub 2024 Sep 18. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024. PMID: 39292750

• Coupling intercellular molecular signalling with multicellular deformation for simulating three-dimensional tissue morphogenesis.

  Okuda S, Inoue Y, Watanabe T, Adachi T. Okuda S, et al. Interface Focus. 2015 Apr 6;5(2):20140095. doi: 10.1098/rsfs.2014.0095. Interface Focus. 2015. PMID: 25844156 Free PMC article.

• Design, Fabrication, and Testing of a Novel 3D 3-Fingered Electrothermal Microgripper with Multiple Degrees of Freedom.

  Si G, Sun L, Zhang Z, Zhang X. Si G, et al. Micromachines (Basel). 2021 Apr 15;12(4):444. doi: 10.3390/mi12040444. Micromachines (Basel). 2021. PMID: 33921177 Free PMC article.

• Optomechanical measurement of the stiffness of single adherent cells.

  Park K, Mehrnezhad A, Corbin EA, Bashir R. Park K, et al. Lab Chip. 2015 Sep 7;15(17):3460-4. doi: 10.1039/c5lc00444f. Epub 2015 Jul 29. Lab Chip. 2015. PMID: 26220705 Free PMC article.

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

• Full Text Sources

  • Elsevier Science

• Other Literature Sources

  • The Lens - Patent Citations Database