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A Zebrafish Embryo Behaves both as a “Cortical Shell – Liquid Core” Structure and a Homogeneous Solid when Experiencing Mechanical Forces

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2014

Fei Liu ,
Dan Wu  and
Ken Chen
Fei Liu*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Mechanical Transmission, College of Mechanical Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Dan Wu
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China, 100084
Ken Chen
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China, 100084
*
*Corresponding author. [email protected]
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Abstract

Mechanical properties are vital for living cells, and various models have been developed to study the mechanical behavior of cells. However, there is debate regarding whether a cell behaves more similarly to a “cortical shell – liquid core” structure (membrane-like) or a homogeneous solid (cytoskeleton-like) when experiencing stress by mechanical forces. Unlike most experimental methods, which concern the small-strain deformation of a cell, we focused on the mechanical behavior of a cell undergoing small to large strain by conducting microinjection experiments on zebrafish embryo cells. The power law with order of 1.5 between the injection force and the injection distance indicates that the cell behaves as a homogenous solid at small-strain deformation. The linear relation between the rupture force and the microinjector radius suggests that the embryo behaves as membrane-like when subjected to large-strain deformation. We also discuss the possible reasons causing the debate by analyzing the mechanical properties of F-actin filaments.

Keywords

mechanical behaviorcell mechanical modelmicroinjection
Type
Biological Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 20 , Issue 6 , December 2014 , pp. 1841 - 1847
Copyright
© Microscopy Society of America 2014 

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