Acousto-holographic Reconstruction of Whole-cell Stiffness Maps

Overview

Journal Nat Commun

Specialty Biology

Date 2022 Nov 29

PMID 36446776

Authors

Rahmetullah Varol

Zeynep Karavelioglu

Sevde Omeroglu

Gizem Aydemir

Aslihan Karadag

Hanife E Meco

Ali A Demircali

Abdurrahim Yilmaz

Gizem C Kocal

Gulsum Gencoglan

Muhammed E Oruc

Gokhan B Esmer

Yasemin Basbinar

Sahin K Ozdemir

Huseyin Uvet

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Accurate assessment of cell stiffness distribution is essential due to the critical role of cell mechanobiology in regulation of vital cellular processes like proliferation, adhesion, migration, and motility. Stiffness provides critical information in understanding onset and progress of various diseases, including metastasis and differentiation of cancer. Atomic force microscopy and optical trapping set the gold standard in stiffness measurements. However, their widespread use has been hampered with long processing times, unreliable contact point determination, physical damage to cells, and unsuitability for multiple cell analysis. Here, we demonstrate a simple, fast, label-free, and high-resolution technique using acoustic stimulation and holographic imaging to reconstruct stiffness maps of single cells. We used this acousto-holographic method to determine stiffness maps of HCT116 and CTC-mimicking HCT116 cells and differentiate between them. Our system would enable widespread use of whole-cell stiffness measurements in clinical and research settings for cancer studies, disease modeling, drug testing, and diagnostics.

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