| AVS 60th International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| Biomaterial Interfaces | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session BI+AS+BA+NL-TuM |
| Session: | Biointerface, Energy and Environmental Applications of QCM |
| Presenter: | E. Nilebäck, Biolin Scientific, Sweden |
| Authors: | E. Nilebäck, Biolin Scientific, Sweden N. Tymchenko, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden A. Kunze, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden L. Enochson, University of Gothenburg, Sweden P. Wallin, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden J. Gold, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden S. Svedhem, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden A. Lindahl, University of Gothenburg, Sweden |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
The mechanical properties and morphology of living cells are dynamic and regulated by cell signaling pathways that can be triggered by both external and internal stimuli. The dynamic nature of these cellular shape changes leaves a great potential for real-time techniques to reveal new time-resolved information in addition to microscopy methods based on fluorescence that are typically end-point measurements. By using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D), the nano-mechanical properties at the cell-surface interface can be studied. How the cells interact with the surface greatly influences the QCM-D response, particularly at cell adhesion and when the cells undergo morphological changes due to internal or external stimuli.
To explore the potential of acoustically sensing the cell-surface interface in real-time, we have used QCM-D as the main technique in several cell studies:
i) Changes in cell morphology were studied simultaneously by QCM-D and light microscopy as 3t3 and human derived fibroblasts were subjected to the actin disrupting agent cytochalasin D that depolymerizes actin in the cytoskeleton. This resulted in a dramatic change in cell morphology that was reversible upon rinsing and could repeatedly be detected as significant changes in the energy dissipation. [1]
ii) Cell adhesion and cell-surface interactions were studied for human derived chondrocytes as they were subjected to well-defined layers of the glycosaminoglycan (GAG) hyaluronan (HA). HA is present in e.g. extra cellular matrix of cartilage and the chondrocytes could be seen in the QCM-D signal to degrade the GAG layer in 2 hours.
iii) Cell adhesion and fixation studies of 3t3 fibroblasts were performed on silicon dioxide coated surfaces with and without a coating of serum proteins. This revealed that the protein layer greatly affected the QCM-D response from the cells. The later fixation by formaldehyde was performed in situ and from the QCM-D data it was shown that the viscoelastic behavior of the cells was to a large extent retained after fixation.
1. Tymchenko, N., Nilebäck, E. et al., Reversible Changes in Cell Morphology due to Cytoskeletal Rearrangements Measured in Real-time by QCM-D, Biointerphases, 2012. (1): p. 1-9.