TY - JOUR TI - Viscoelastic properties of suspended cells measured with shear flow deformation cytometry AU - Gerum, Richard AU - Mirzahossein, Elham AU - Eroles, Mar AU - Elsterer, Jennifer AU - Mainka, Astrid AU - Bauer, Andreas AU - Sonntag, Selina AU - Winterl, Alexander AU - Bartl, Johannes AU - Fischer, Lena AU - Abuhattum, Shada AU - Goswami, Ruchi AU - Girardo, Salvatore AU - Guck, Jochen AU - Schrüfer, Stefan AU - Ströhlein, Nadine AU - Nosratlo, Mojtaba AU - Herrmann, Harald AU - Schultheis, Dorothea AU - Rico, Felix AU - Müller, Sebastian Johannes AU - Gekle, Stephan AU - Fabry, Ben A2 - Michelot, Alphee A2 - Akhmanova, Anna A2 - Campillo, Clément A2 - Betz, Timo VL - 11 PY - 2022 DA - 2022/09/02 SP - e78823 C1 - eLife 2022;11:e78823 DO - 10.7554/eLife.78823 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.78823 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, ear 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. Roscoe [1] 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. KW - cell rheology KW - viscoelasticity KW - shear flow KW - tank treading KW - microfluidics JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -