Mechanical stiffness as an improved single-cell indicator of osteoblastic human mesenchymal stem cell differentiation.

ABSTRACT: Although it has been established that cellular stiffness can change as a stem cell differentiates, the precise relationship between cell mechanics and other phenotypic properties remains unclear. Inherent cell heterogeneity and asynchronous differentiation complicate population analysis; therefore, single-cell analysis was employed to determine how changes in cell stiffness correlate with changes in molecular biomarkers during differentiation. Design of a custom gridded tissue culture dish facilitated single-cell comparisons between cell mechanics and other differentiation biomarkers by enabling sequential measurement of cell mechanics and protein biomarker expression at the single cell level. The Young's modulus of mesenchymal stem cells was shown not only to decrease during chemically-in

SUBMITTER: Bongiorno T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4024369 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature