S0201-3-4 細胞の基板弾性率感知方法の解明に関する研究 : 基板の弾性率と厚みが血管平滑筋細胞に与える影響(マイクロ・ナノバイオメカニクス:細胞生物学への接近(3)界面と接着)

概要

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To study sensing mechanism of substrate stiffness by cells, we observed changes of projected area of rat aortic smooth muscle cells (RASMs) cultured on polyacrylamide gel substrates having various elastic moduli E and thicknesses h. Cell area decreased when h increased, and reached plateau when h>7.5 μm for a hard gel (E=92 kPa) and h>30 μm for a soft gel (E=6 kPa). We then performed numerical analysis to know the relationship between displacement of focal adhesions (FAs) and gel thickness, and found that stiffness at FA level correlates well with the cell area. These results suggest that RASMs were able to sense the elastic properties of the substrate only in a shallow region. If the cells sensed mechanical properties of the substrate by force-deformation relation spanning whole cell length, then the sensing depth should be comparable to their dimensions. Cells may sense substrate elasticity not with deformation of whole cell body but with local deformation at FAs.
社団法人日本機械学会の論文
2009-09-12