PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Richard Gerum
AU  - Elham Mirzahossein
AU  - Mar Eroles
AU  - Jennifer Elsterer
AU  - Astrid Mainka
AU  - Andreas Bauer
AU  - Selina Sonntag
AU  - Alexander Winterl
AU  - Johannes Bartl
AU  - Lena Fischer
AU  - Shada Abuhattum
AU  - Ruchi Goswami
AU  - Salvatore Girardo
AU  - Jochen Guck
AU  - Stefan Schrüfer
AU  - Nadine Ströhlein
AU  - Mojtaba Nosratlo
AU  - Harald Herrmann
AU  - Dorothea Schultheis
AU  - Felix Rico
AU  - Sebastian Müller
AU  - Stephan Gekle
AU  - Ben Fabry
TI  - Viscoelastic properties of suspended cells measured with shear flow deformation cytometry
AID  - 10.1101/2022.01.11.475843
DP  - 2022 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2022.01.11.475843
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/01/12/2022.01.11.475843.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/01/12/2022.01.11.475843.full
AB  - Numerous cell functions are accompanied by phenotypic changes in viscoelastic properties, and measuring them can help elucidate higher-level cellular functions in health and disease. We present a high-throughput, simple and low-cost microfluidic method for quantitatively measuring the elastic (storage) and viscous (loss) modulus of individual cells. Cells are suspended in a high-viscosity fluid and are pumped with high pressure through a 5.8 cm long and 200 µm wide microfluidic channel. The fluid shear stress induces large, near ellipsoidal cell deformations. In addition, the flow profile in the channel causes the cells to rotate in a tank-treading manner. From the cell deformation and tank treading frequency, we extract the frequency-dependent viscoelastic cell properties based on a theoretical framework developed by R. Roscoe1 that describes the deformation of a viscoelastic sphere in a viscous fluid under steady laminar flow. We confirm the accuracy of the method using atomic force microscopy-calibrated polyacrylamide beads and cells. Our measurements demonstrate that suspended cells exhibit power-law, soft glassy rheological behavior that is cell cycle-dependent and mediated by the physical interplay between the actin filament and intermediate filament networks.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.