Visco-Node-Pore Sensing: A Microfluidic Rheology Platform to Characterize Viscoelastic Properties of Epithelial Cells

Junghyun Kim; Brian Li; Olivia J Scheideler; Youngbin Kim; Lydia L Sohn

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2019.02.021

Visco-Node-Pore Sensing: A Microfluidic Rheology Platform to Characterize Viscoelastic Properties of Epithelial Cells

iScience. 2019 Mar 29:13:214-228. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2019.02.021. Epub 2019 Feb 27.

Authors

Junghyun Kim¹, Brian Li², Olivia J Scheideler², Youngbin Kim³, Lydia L Sohn⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
² Graduate Program in Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, San Francisco, Berkeley, CA, USA.
³ Department of Bioengineering, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; Graduate Program in Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, San Francisco, Berkeley, CA, USA. Electronic address: sohn@berkeley.edu.

Abstract

Viscoelastic properties of cells provide valuable information regarding biological or clinically relevant cellular characteristics. Here, we introduce a new, electronic-based, microfluidic platform-visco-node-pore sensing (visco-NPS)-which quantifies cellular viscoelastic properties under periodic deformation. We measure the storage (G') and loss (G″) moduli (i.e., elasticity and viscosity, respectively) of cells. By applying a wide range of deformation frequencies, our platform quantifies the frequency dependence of viscoelastic properties. G' and G″ measurements show that the viscoelastic properties of malignant breast epithelial cells (MCF-7) are distinctly different from those of non-malignant breast epithelial cells (MCF-10A). With its sensitivity, visco-NPS can dissect the individual contributions of different cytoskeletal components to whole-cell mechanical properties. Moreover, visco-NPS can quantify the mechanical transitions of cells as they traverse the cell cycle or are initiated into an epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Visco-NPS identifies viscoelastic characteristics of cell populations, providing a biophysical understanding of cellular behavior and a potential for clinical applications.

Keywords: Analytical Chemistry; Biomechanics; Cell; Fluidics.

Abstract

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