Biophysical Society Thematic Meeting - June 28-July 1, 2015

New Biological Frontiers Illuminated by Molecular Sensors and Actuators

Poster Abstracts

28-POS Board 28 Vertical Nanopillar for in Situ Probe of Nuclear Mechanotransduction Hsin-Ya Lou 1 , Lindsey Hanson 1 , Wenting Zhao 2 , Yi Cui 2,3 , Bianxiao Cui 1 .

1 Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA, 2 Department of Material Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA, 3 Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford, CA, USA. As the control center of a cell, the cell nucleus contains the cell’s genetic materials and regulates gene expression. The stability and deformability of the cell nucleus are important to many biological processes like migration, proliferation, polarization, and the differentiation of stem cells. When cells are exposed to mechanical force, the force will be transmitted via cytoskeleton to the nucleus, induce shape deformation of the nuclear envelopes, and even change the configurations of nucleoskeletons, which give the clue that cell nucleus itself may be able to sense and respond to mechanical signals. However, current techniques for studying nuclear mechanics are limited for inducing subcellular force perturbation in live cells. Here we developed a novel assay of using vertical nanopillar arrays to study the mechanical coupling between cell nucleus and cytoskeleton in live cells. Our results showed that nanopillars can induce deformation of nuclear envelope, and the deformation is controlled by the geometry of the nanopillars, and the stiffness of the nucleus. Also, cytoskeletons such actin and intermediate filaments were showed to play important roles in inducing nuclear deformation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that mechanical perturbation of the nuclear envelope can cause the reorganization of nuclear lamina. Overall, vertical nanopillars provide a non-invasive force to create a subcellular perturbation and can be used as a tool for studying nuclear mechanotransduction in live cells.

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