AFM‐Based Poroelastic@Membrane Analysis of Cells and its Opportunities for Translational Medicine

Abstract

Cell mechanics is an emerging field of research for translational medicine. Here, the cell is modeled as poroelastic cytoplasm wrapped by tensile membrane (poroelastic@membrane model) and is characterized by the atomic force microscopy (AFM). The parameters of cytoskeleton network modulus EC, cytoplasmic apparent viscosity ηC, and cytoplasmic diffusion coefficient DC are used to describe the mechanical behavior of cytoplasm, and membrane tension γ is used to evaluate the cell membrane. Poroelastic@membrane analysis of breast cells and urothelial cells show that non‐cancer cells and cancer cells have different distribution regions and distribution trends in the four‐dimensional space composed of EC, ηC. From non‐cancer to cancer cells, there is often a trend of γ, EC, ηC decreases and DC increases. Patients with urothelial carcinoma at different malignant stages can be distinguished at high sensitivity and specificity by analyzing the urothelial cells from tissue or urine. However, sampling directly from tumor tissues is an invasive method, may lead to undesirable consequences. Thus, AFM‐based poroelastic@membrane analysis of urothelial cells from urine may provide a non‐invasive and no‐bio‐label method to detecting urothelial carcinoma.

Mechanobiology in oncology: basic concepts and clinical prospects

“…Additionally, cellular behavior is not affected by only the mechanics of solid compartment of the ECM; viscosity of the extracellular fluid has also been shown to facilitate tumor cell migration and dissemination on 2D surfaces and in 3D spheroids (Bera et al, 2022). In addition to ECM, cancer cells themselves typically show a lower levels of viscosity and membrane tension compared to healthy cells (Ren et al, 2023). Moreover, cytoplasm of the living cells also has been shown to behave as a poroelastic material (Moeendarbary et al, 2013) with an enhanced diffusion coefficient for cancer cells (Ren et al, 2023).…”

“…In addition to ECM, cancer cells themselves typically show a lower levels of viscosity and membrane tension compared to healthy cells (Ren et al, 2023). Moreover, cytoplasm of the living cells also has been shown to behave as a poroelastic material (Moeendarbary et al, 2013) with an enhanced diffusion coefficient for cancer cells (Ren et al, 2023). At the tissue level, higher levels of viscos (loss) modulus in cancerous tissues (Deptuła et al, 2020) has improved the diagnostic accuracy and capabilities in ultrasound (Nabavizadeh et al, 2019) and MRE techniques (Reiter et al, 2022).…”

Atomic Force Microscopy beyond Topography: Chemical Sensing of 2D Material Surfaces through Adhesion Measurements

“…Analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests are largely used across scientific fields. It is a collection of inexpensive methods with very high accuracy to quantify significant differences between populations of data (which can be applied to large data sets) based on the observed variance of such data. , Within ANOVA tests, the Shapiro–Wilk test is a more appropriate method for small sample sizes (<50 samples) . Once the mean values are established for each test and they are significantly different, the next step is to use a proper classifier.…”