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Träber N, Uhlmann K, Girardo S, Kesavan G, Wagner K, Friedrichs J, Goswami R, Bai K, Brand M, Werner C, Balzani D, Guck J. Polyacrylamide Bead Sensors for in vivo Quantification of Cell-Scale Stress in Zebrafish Development. Sci Rep 2019; 9:17031. [PMID: 31745109 PMCID: PMC6864055 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-53425-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2019] [Accepted: 10/23/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Mechanical stress exerted and experienced by cells during tissue morphogenesis and organ formation plays an important role in embryonic development. While techniques to quantify mechanical stresses in vitro are available, few methods exist for studying stresses in living organisms. Here, we describe and characterize cell-like polyacrylamide (PAAm) bead sensors with well-defined elastic properties and size for in vivo quantification of cell-scale stresses. The beads were injected into developing zebrafish embryos and their deformations were computationally analyzed to delineate spatio-temporal local acting stresses. With this computational analysis-based cell-scale stress sensing (COMPAX) we are able to detect pulsatile pressure propagation in the developing neural rod potentially originating from polarized midline cell divisions and continuous tissue flow. COMPAX is expected to provide novel spatio-temporal insight into developmental processes at the local tissue level and to facilitate quantitative investigation and a better understanding of morphogenetic processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- N Träber
- Leibniz-Institut für Polymerforschung Dresden e. V., Hohe Str. 6, 01069, Dresden, Germany
- Biotechnology Center, Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering, Technische Universität Dresden, Tatzberg 47/49, 01307, Dresden, Germany
| | - K Uhlmann
- Chair of Continuum Mechanics, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, 44801, Bochum, Germany
| | - S Girardo
- Biotechnology Center, Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering, Technische Universität Dresden, Tatzberg 47/49, 01307, Dresden, Germany
- Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden, Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering, Technische Universität Dresden, Fetscherstr. 105, 01307, Dresden, Germany
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Staudtstraße 2, 91058, Erlangen, Germany
| | - G Kesavan
- Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden, Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering, Technische Universität Dresden, Fetscherstr. 105, 01307, Dresden, Germany
| | - K Wagner
- Biotechnology Center, Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering, Technische Universität Dresden, Tatzberg 47/49, 01307, Dresden, Germany
| | - J Friedrichs
- Leibniz-Institut für Polymerforschung Dresden e. V., Hohe Str. 6, 01069, Dresden, Germany
| | - R Goswami
- Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden, Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering, Technische Universität Dresden, Fetscherstr. 105, 01307, Dresden, Germany
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Staudtstraße 2, 91058, Erlangen, Germany
| | - K Bai
- Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden, Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering, Technische Universität Dresden, Fetscherstr. 105, 01307, Dresden, Germany
| | - M Brand
- Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden, Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering, Technische Universität Dresden, Fetscherstr. 105, 01307, Dresden, Germany
| | - C Werner
- Leibniz-Institut für Polymerforschung Dresden e. V., Hohe Str. 6, 01069, Dresden, Germany
| | - D Balzani
- Chair of Continuum Mechanics, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, 44801, Bochum, Germany.
| | - J Guck
- Biotechnology Center, Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering, Technische Universität Dresden, Tatzberg 47/49, 01307, Dresden, Germany.
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Staudtstraße 2, 91058, Erlangen, Germany.
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Girardo S, Träber N, Wagner K, Cojoc G, Herold C, Goswami R, Schlüßler R, Abuhattum S, Taubenberger A, Reichel F, Mokbel D, Herbig M, Schürmann M, Müller P, Heida T, Jacobi A, Ulbricht E, Thiele J, Werner C, Guck J. Standardized microgel beads as elastic cell mechanical probes. J Mater Chem B 2018; 6:6245-6261. [PMID: 32254615 DOI: 10.1039/c8tb01421c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Cell mechanical measurements are gaining increasing interest in biological and biomedical studies. However, there are no standardized calibration particles available that permit the cross-comparison of different measurement techniques operating at different stresses and time-scales. Here we present the rational design, production, and comprehensive characterization of poly-acrylamide (PAAm) microgel beads mimicking size and overall mechanics of biological cells. We produced mono-disperse beads at rates of 20-60 kHz by means of a microfluidic droplet generator, where the pre-gel composition was adjusted to tune the beads' elasticity in the range of cell and tissue relevant mechanical properties. We verified bead homogeneity by optical diffraction tomography and Brillouin microscopy. Consistent elastic behavior of microgel beads at different shear rates was confirmed by AFM-enabled nanoindentation and real-time deformability cytometry (RT-DC). The remaining inherent variability in elastic modulus was rationalized using polymer theory and effectively reduced by sorting based on forward-scattering using conventional flow cytometry. Our results show that PAAm microgel beads can be standardized as mechanical probes, to serve not only for validation and calibration of cell mechanical measurements, but also as cell-scale stress sensors.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Girardo
- Biotechnology Center, Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering, Technische Universität Dresden, Tatzberg 47/49, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
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Mokbel M, Mokbel D, Mietke A, Träber N, Girardo S, Otto O, Guck J, Aland S. Numerical Simulation of Real-Time Deformability Cytometry To Extract Cell Mechanical Properties. ACS Biomater Sci Eng 2017; 3:2962-2973. [PMID: 33418716 DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.6b00558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
The measurement of cell stiffness is an important part of biological research with diverse applications in biology, biotechnology and medicine. Real-time deformability cytometry (RT-DC) is a new method to probe cell stiffness at high throughput by flushing cells through a microfluidic channel where cell deformation provides an indicator for cell stiffness (Otto et al. Real-time deformability cytometry: on-the-fly cell 725 mechanical phenotyping. Nat. Methods 2015, 12, 199-202). Here, we propose a full numerical model for single cells in a flow channel to quantitatively relate cell deformation to mechanical parameters. Thereby the cell is modeled as a viscoelastic material surrounded by a thin shell cortex, subject to bending stiffness and cortical surface tension. For small deformations our results show good agreement with a previously developed analytical model that neglects the influence of cell deformation on the fluid flow (Mietke et al. Extracting Cell Stiffness from Real-Time Deformability Cytometry: 728 Theory and Experiment. Biophys. J. 2015, 109, 2023-2036). Including linear elasticity as well as neo-Hookean hyperelasticity, our model is valid in a wide range of cell deformations and allows to extract cell stiffness for largely deformed cells. We introduce a new measure for cell deformation that is capable to distinguish between deformation effects stemming from cell cortex and cell bulk elasticity. Finally, we demonstrate the potential of the method to simultaneously quantify multiple mechanical cell parameters by RT-DC.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Mokbel
- Institute of Scientific Computing, TU Dresden, Zellescher Weg 12-14, 01069 Dresden, Germany
| | - D Mokbel
- Institute of Scientific Computing, TU Dresden, Zellescher Weg 12-14, 01069 Dresden, Germany.,Biotechnology Center, TU Dresden, Tatzberg 47-49, 01307 Dresden, Germany
| | - A Mietke
- Max-Planck-Institute for Cell Biology and Genetics, Pfotenhauerstrasse 108, 01307 Dresden, Germany.,Max-Planck-Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Nöthnitzer Strasse 38, 01187 Dresden, Germany
| | - N Träber
- Biotechnology Center, TU Dresden, Tatzberg 47-49, 01307 Dresden, Germany
| | - S Girardo
- Biotechnology Center, TU Dresden, Tatzberg 47-49, 01307 Dresden, Germany
| | - O Otto
- Biotechnology Center, TU Dresden, Tatzberg 47-49, 01307 Dresden, Germany.,Center for Innovation Competence, University of Greifswald, Fleischmannstrasse 42-44, 17489 Greifswald, Germany
| | - J Guck
- Biotechnology Center, TU Dresden, Tatzberg 47-49, 01307 Dresden, Germany
| | - S Aland
- Institute of Scientific Computing, TU Dresden, Zellescher Weg 12-14, 01069 Dresden, Germany.,Faculty of Informatics/Mathematics, HTW Dresden, Friedrich-List-Platz 1, 01069 Dresden, Germany
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