Abstract
Studying chemomechanical coupling at interfaces is important for fields ranging from lubrication and tribology to microfluidics and cell biology. Several polymeric macro- and microscopic systems and cantilevers have been developed to image forces at interfaces, but few materials are amenable for molecular tension sensing. To address this issue, we have developed a gold nanoparticle sensor for molecular tension-based fluorescence microscopy. As a proof of concept, we imaged the tension exerted by integrin receptors at the interface between living cells and a substrate with high spatial (<1 μm) resolution, at 100 ms acquisition times and with molecular specificity. We report integrin tension values ranging from 1 to 15 pN and a mean of ~1 pN within focal adhesions. Through the use of a conventional fluorescence microscope, this method demonstrates a force sensitivity that is 3 orders of magnitude greater than is achievable by traction force microscopy or polydimethylsiloxane micropost arrays, which are the standard in cellular biomechanics.
🔬 Techniques
✨ Fluorophores
🧪 Sample Preparation
💾 Data Repositories
🏛️ Research Organizations (ROR)
Affiliated research institutions:
📊 Figures
Figure 1
NSET calibration. (a) To determine d 0 , particles were functionalized with a binary mixture of 1:9 labeled:unlabeled dsDNA. (b) Table showing the DNA sequences used, their measured density, and predi...
Figure 2
PEG conformation on AuNP surface. Plot of A488-PEG 82 -SH loading as a function of incubation with single ligand (a), and binary mixture of ligands of A488-PEG 82 -SH and COOH-EG 8 -SH (b). The total ...
Figure 3
Mechano-imaging of integrins in live cell. (a) AFM image showing the typical AuNP sensor distribution. After 1 hr of cell culture on the sensor surface, the brightfield (b) and RICM image (c) were cap...
Figure 4
Initial tension dynamics during cell adhesion. Time-lapse images recording the first 10 min of cell-substrate interactions after the cell engaged the surface. Tension signal (TIRF 488 channel, 100 ms ...
Scheme 1
AuNP-based molecular tension fluorescence microscopy (AuNP-MTFM)
Figure images are served from the NIH/NLM PubMed Central Open Access Subset or Europe PMC; copyright remains with the publishers and authors.
💬 Discussion
0 commentsNo comments yet. Be the first to start a discussion!
Leave a Comment