Nano-Biomechanical Study of Spatio-Temporal Cytoskeleton Rearrangements that Determine Subcellular Mechanical Properties and Endothelial Permeability.

ABSTRACT: The endothelial cell (EC) lining of the pulmonary vascular system forms a semipermeable barrier between blood and the interstitium and regulates various critical biochemical functions. Collectively, it represents a prototypical biomechanical system, where the complex hierarchical architecture, from the molecular scale to the cellular and tissue level, has an intimate and intricate relationship with its biological functions. We investigated the mechanical properties of human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (ECs) using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Concurrently, the wider distribution and finer details of the cytoskeletal nano-structure were examined using fluorescence microscopy (FM) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), respectively. These correlative measurements were

SUBMITTER: Wang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4650616 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature