Characterizing viscoelastic properties of human melanoma tissue using Prony series

Abstract

Melanoma is the most invasive and deadly skin cancer, which causes most of the deaths from skin cancer. It has been demonstrated that the mechanical properties of tumor tissue are significantly altered. However, data about characterizing the mechanical properties of in vivo melanoma tissue are extremely scarce. In addition, the viscoelastic or viscous properties of melanoma tissue are rarely reported. In this study, we measured and quantitated the viscoelastic properties of human melanoma tissues based on the stress relaxation test, using the indentation-based mechanical analyzer that we developed previously. The melanoma tissues from eight patients of different ages (57–95), genders (male and female patients), races (White and Asian), and sites (nose, arm, shoulder, and chest) were excised and tested. The results showed that the elastic property (i.e., shear modulus) of melanoma tissue was elevated compared to normal tissue, while the viscous property (i.e., relaxation time) was reduced. Moreover, the tissue thickness had a significant impact on the viscoelastic properties, probably due to the amount of the adipose layer. Our findings provide new insights into the role of the viscous and elastic properties of melanoma cell mechanics, which may be implicated in the disease state and progression.

The alteration of the structure and macroscopic mechanical response of porcine patellar tendon by elastase digestion

“…Prony series is a model of viscoelastic materials commonly used in engineering, which can be used to better simulate the time-dependent behavior of materials ( Bose et al, 2020 ; Park et al, 2023 ). Therefore, the viscoelasticity of the patellar tendon was characterized by a second-order Prony series ( Shearer, et al, 2020 ), and the stress-time data from the stress relaxation experiment were analyzed.…”

Atomic force microscopy in disease‐related studies: Exploring tissue and cell mechanics

“…There is also lung cancer, glioma, colon cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, etc. (Chen et al, 2021; Deptula et al, 2020; Panzetta et al, 2017; Park et al, 2023; Tsitlakidis et al, 2020). Based on these mechanical differences, many studies have been conducted to determine whether cells or tissues are cancerous by mechanical parameters such as stiffness, adhesion, Young's modulus, etc.…”