Tissue Rheology as a Possible Complementary Procedure to Advance Histological Diagnosis of Colon Cancer

Abstract

In recent years, rheological measurements of cells and tissues at physiological and pathological stages have become an essential method to determine how forces and changes in mechanical properties contribute to disease development and progression, but there is no standardization of this procedure so far. In this study, we evaluate the potential of nanoscale atomic force microscopy (AFM) and macroscopic shear rheometry to assess the mechanical properties of healthy and cancerous human colon tissues. The direct comparison of tissue mechanical behavior under uniaxial and shear deformation shows that cancerous tissues not only are stiffer compared to healthy tissue but also respond differently when shear and compressive stresses are applied. These results suggest that rheological parameters can be useful measures of colon cancer mechanopathology. Additionally, we extend the list of biological materials exhibiting compressional stiffening and shear weakening effects to human colon tumors. These mechanical responses might be promising mechanomarkers and become part of the new procedures in colon cancer diagnosis. Enrichment of histopathological grading with rheological assessment of tissue mechanical properties will potentially allow more accurate colon cancer diagnosis and improve prognosis.

Nanomechanical Hallmarks of Helicobacter pylori Infection in Pediatric Patients

“…It is necessary to understand all the mechanisms related to the induction and regulation of immune and inflammatory responses to H. pylori [ 2 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. In recent years, scientific studies have appeared stating that the dysfunction of physiological processes during infection, mostly development of inflammation generates the changes in cells and tissues, which leads to changes in their rheological properties that might lead toward cancer development [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. The information on the nanomechanical aspects of the pathological state of H. pylori gastric infection could be of key importance in the development of new bacterial eradication methods, preventive and diagnostic measures.…”

“…The information on the nanomechanical aspects of the pathological state of H. pylori gastric infection could be of key importance in the development of new bacterial eradication methods, preventive and diagnostic measures. Lately, more attention has been paid to the mechanical testing of tissue samples to understand thoroughly the physiological and pathological processes occurring at the cell and tissue levels [ 20 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]. All physiological processes and their dysfunctions during the development of infection are associated with structural changes that can be described at various structural/organization levels of tissues, cells, and cell organelles.…”

Attenuating Fibrotic Markers of Patient-Derived Dermal Fibroblasts by Thiolated Lignin Composites

“…Using an 8 mm parallel plate, storage (G′) and loss (G″) moduli of composites were determined by frequency sweeping from 0.62 to 19.9 (rad/s) at 2% strain. In addition, instead of evaluating stiffness at an arbitrary storage modulus (often storage moduli are altered by axial stress applied during measurement), we evaluated the slope of axial stress vs compression, similar to evaluating Young's modulus from the slope of a stress-strain curve 49 . Axial stresses at 0, 10 and 20% of compression were determined, while composite samples were subject to 2% strain and 6.28 rad/s frequency.…”

“…Complete contact and certain axial force are required to measure viscoelasticity using a rheometer. However, we often observed that altering axial force can result in different G′ and G″, thus we sought to extract a stress-strain curve from axial stress-compression data 49 .…”

Tumor Solid Stress: Assessment with MR Elastography under Compression of Patient-Derived Hepatocellular Carcinomas and Cholangiocarcinomas Xenografted in Mice

“…It has been observed that the apparent stiffness increases under compression. This phenomenon, known as compression stiffening, has been observed in liver tissue and tumors [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. Moreover, it has been suggested that the evolution of the stiffness under compression (the compression stiffening rate) is related to solid stress [ 13 , 26 , 27 ].…”