@article {Maan166371, author = {R. Maan and G. I. Menon and P. A. Pullarkat}, title = {Quantifying cell adhesion dynamics using a custom-made fluid shear device: experiments and model}, elocation-id = {166371}, year = {2017}, doi = {10.1101/166371}, publisher = {Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory}, abstract = {Cell adhesion plays a crucial role in situations as diverse as stress generation, cell migration and cancer metastasis. The strengths with which cells attach to substrates can be measured by applying forces that are large enough to detach them. Such forces can be applied by shearing the ambient fluid, so that controllable shear stresses are exerted across cells placed within the flow. Here, we report on the design, construction and benchmarking of a compact, inexpensive and efficient shearing device, based on the principle of a coneplate rheometer, for the measurement of cell adhesion strengths and for the study of cytoskeletal re-organization in response to a shear stress. The device can be easily integrated with in-situ imaging and measurement techniques such as total internal reflection microscopy or confocal microscopy. It can also be combined with variable substrate structures, such as those produced by micropatterning. We present experimental results as well as a model framework within which the experimental results can be understood theoretically, summarised in analytic expressions for the number of detached cells as a function of shear stress upon ramping of the stress. These provide reasonable estimates for the strength of the focal adhesion complexes that control cell adhesion.}, URL = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/07/21/166371}, eprint = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/07/21/166371.full.pdf}, journal = {bioRxiv} }