Rheological behavior of mammalian cells |
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Authors: | D Stamenovi? |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 44 Cummington Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA |
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Abstract: | Rheological properties of living cells determine how cells interact with their mechanical microenvironment and influence their
physiological functions. Numerous experimental studies have show that mechanical contractile stress borne by the cytoskeleton
and weak power-law viscoelasticity are governing principles of cell rheology, and that the controlling physics is at the level
of integrative cytoskeletal lattice properties. Based on these observations, two concepts have emerged as leading models of
cytoskeletal mechanics. One is the tensegrity model, which explains the role of the contractile stress in cytoskeletal mechanics,
and the other is the soft glass rheology model, which explains the weak power-law viscoelasticity of cells. While these two
models are conceptually disparate, the phenomena that they describe are often closely associated in living cells for reasons
that are largely unknown. In this review, we discuss current understanding of cell rheology by emphasizing the underlying
biophysical mechanism and critically evaluating the existing rheological models.
Received 25 May 2008; received after revision 19 June 2008; accepted 1 July 2008 |
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Keywords: | " target="_blank"> Cytoskeleton prestress power law tensegrity soft glass rheology actin networks viscoelasticity contractility |
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