High-frequency microrheology reveals cytoskeleton dynamics in living cells.

TitleHigh-frequency microrheology reveals cytoskeleton dynamics in living cells.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2017
AuthorsRigato A, Miyagi A, Scheuring S, Rico F
JournalNat Phys
Volume13
Issue8
Pagination771-775
Date Published2017 Aug
ISSN1745-2473
Abstract

Living cells are viscoelastic materials, with the elastic response dominating at long timescales (≳1 ms)1. At shorter timescales, the dynamics of individual cytoskeleton filaments are expected to emerge, but active microrheology measurements on cells accessing this regime are scarce2. Here, we develop high-frequency microrheology (HF-MR) to probe the viscoelastic response of living cells from 1Hz to 100 kHz. We report the viscoelasticity of different cell types and upon cytoskeletal drug treatments. At previously inaccessible short timescales, cells exhibit rich viscoelastic responses that depend on the state of the cytoskeleton. Benign and malignant cancer cells revealed remarkably different scaling laws at high frequency, providing a univocal mechanical fingerprint. Microrheology over a wide dynamic range up to the frequency of action of the molecular components provides a mechanistic understanding of cell mechanics.

DOI10.1038/nphys4104
Alternate JournalNat Phys
PubMed ID28781604
PubMed Central IDPMC5540170
Grant List310080 / / European Research Council / International