Mechanical response analysis and power generation by single-cell stretching

To harvest useful information about cell response due to mechanical perturbations under physiological conditions, a cantilever-based technique was designed, which allowed precise application of arbitrary forces or deformation histories on a single cell in vitro. Essential requirements for these investigations are a mechanism for applying an automated cell force and an induced-deformation detection system based on fiber-optical force sensing and closed loop control. The required mechanical stability of the setup can persist for several hours since mechanical drifts due to thermal gradients can be eliminated sufficiently (these gradients are caused by local heating of the cell observation chamber to 37 °C). During mechanical characterization, the cell is visualized with an optical microscope, which enables the simultaneous observation of cell shape and intracellular morphological changes. Either the cell elongation is observed as a reaction against a constant load or the cell force is measured as a response to constant deformation. Passive viscoelastic deformation and active cell response can be discriminated. The active power generated during contraction is in the range of Pmax=10−16Watts, which corresponds to 2500 ATP molecules s−1at 10 kBT/molecule. The ratio of contractive to dissipative power is estimated to be in the range of 10−2. The highest forces supported by the cell suggest that about 104molecular motors must be involved in contraction. This indicates an energy-conversion efficiency of approximately 0.5. Our findings propose that, in addition to the recruitment of cell-contractile elements upon mechanical stimulation, the cell cytoskeleton becomes increasingly crosslinked in response to a mechanical pull. Quantitative stress–strain data, such as those presented here, may be employed to test physical models that describe cellular responses to mechanical stimuli.