2022年第49卷第2期目录
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封面故事:原子力显微镜(AFM) 的出现为单细胞力学特性探测提供了强大工具,在生命科学领
域得到了广泛应用,但由于AFM探针自身难以进行药物递送,目前在超微量药物刺激下的AFM细
胞力学特性实时探测方面仍然面临巨大挑战。冯雅琦等通过将微针技术与AFM结合,发展了可对
单细胞进行精准药物激励及力学特性同步测量的方法。文中在荧光倒置显微镜上搭建了基于玻璃微
针的单细胞显微注射系统,分析了微针针尖孔径尺寸对细胞注射的影响,实现了对单个活细胞的荧
光染液有效递送,在此基础上结合微针注射和AFM压痕技术建立了精准化学激励下细胞力学特性
同步测量流程,显示了超微量化疗药物作用会导致细胞力学特性改变。研究结果对于实时动态高精
度观测超微量药物作用下的单细胞力学行为具有积极意义。
(冯雅琦,于鹏,施佳林,李密. 结合微针及AFM的单细胞精准激励与力学特性同步测量,本期第
420~430 页)
Cover Story:Objective Cell mechanics plays an important role in cellular physiological and pathological
processes and is closely related to the health states of living organisms. Investigating cell mechanics significantly
benefits revealing the underlying mechanisms guiding life activities. The advent of atomic force microscope
(AFM) provides a novel instrument for single-cell assay. AFM is able to not only visualize the morphology of
singe living cells under aqueous conditions with high resolution, but also quantitatively measure the mechanical
properties of cells. Utilizing AFM to investigate the mechanics of individual cells has achieved great success in
the past decades, which provides numerous new insights into cellular physiological and pathological processes
and has become an important tool in the field of life sciences. However, due to the fact that AFM probe itself is
unable to perform drug delivery, so far it is still challenging for the simultaneous measurements of cell mechanics
by AFM in response to the stimulation of ultra-trace drug. Here, by combining micropipette and AFM, a method
allowing single-cell precise drug delivery and simultaneous measurements of cell mechanics is presented.
Methods The micropipette-based single-cell microinjection system was built on an inverted fluorescent
microscope by using a 3D manipulator, a micropump, a syringe, a PTFE tube and a micropipette. The
micropipette was obtained from the glass capillary by using the micropipette puller. NIH 3T3 cells (mouse
embryonic fibroblast), HEK 293 cells (human embryonic kidney cell) and MCF-7 cells (human breast cancer cell)
were used for the experiments. Under the guidance of optical microscopy, staining reagents or drug molecules
were delivered to individual cells, and then AFM probe was moved to the targeted cells to obtain force curves.
Cellular Young’s modulus was calculated from the force curves by applying Hertz-Sneddon model. Results The
effects of the pore size of micropipette tip on cell injection were analyzed firstly, and the results showed that
larger pore size tip (the outer diameter of the tip was larger than 1 μm) could cause obvious mechanical damage to
the cell. Then blue ink or PI staining solution was injected to single cells by micropipette under the guidance of
optical microscopy, and the recorded optical/fluorescent images after injection clearly showed that the targeted
cells were successfully injected. Finally, micropipette was integrated with AFM to measure the Young’s modulus
changes of single cells after the treatment of chemotherapeutic drug (cytarabine), and the results showed that
stimulation of cytarabine could cause the changes of cellular mechanical properties. Conclusion Combining
micropipette and AFM enables applying precise chemical stimulation to a single cell while simultaneously
measuring cellular mechanical properties after chemical stimulation, providing a novel idea for single-cell
mechanical analysis in response to ultra-trace drugs.
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综述与专论
研究报告
技术与方法
动态与评论
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