High-Frequency Mechanostimulation of Cell Adhesion.
Laith F KademK Grace SuanaMichelle HolzWei WangHannes WesterhausRainer HergesChristine Selhuber-UnkelPublished in: Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) (2016)
Cell adhesion is regulated by molecularly defined protein interactions and by mechanical forces, which can activate a dynamic restructuring of adhesion sites. Previous attempts to explore the response of cell adhesion to forces have been limited to applying mechanical stimuli that involve the cytoskeleton. In contrast, we here apply a new, oscillatory type of stimulus through push-pull azobenzenes. Push-pull azobenzenes perform a high-frequency, molecular oscillation upon irradiation with visible light that has frequently been applied in polymer surface relief grating. We here use these oscillations to address single adhesion receptors. The effect of molecular oscillatory forces on cell adhesion has been analyzed using single-cell force spectroscopy and gene expression studies. Our experiments demonstrate a reinforcement of cell adhesion as well as upregulated expression levels of adhesion-associated genes as a result of the nanoscale "tickling" of integrins. This novel type of mechanical stimulus provides a previously unprecedented molecular control of cellular mechanosensing.
Keyphrases
- cell adhesion
- high frequency
- transcranial magnetic stimulation
- gene expression
- single molecule
- single cell
- visible light
- poor prognosis
- magnetic resonance
- high resolution
- atomic force microscopy
- radiation therapy
- small molecule
- transcription factor
- contrast enhanced
- long non coding rna
- radiation induced
- mass spectrometry
- pseudomonas aeruginosa
- solid state
- electron microscopy
- genome wide analysis