2023/08/09 by Rosalia Ferraro, Ferraro, Rosalia, Sergio Caserta +3 · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Engineering · #3D Printing in Biomedical Research #92C37 #Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph) #Cell Behavior (q-bio.CB) #Cellular Mechanics and Interactions #FOS: Biological sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #Microfluidic and Bio-sensing Technologies #Quantitative Methods (q-bio.QM)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2308.05131
openalex publication_date 2023/08/09 · openalex created_date 2023/08/12 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The mechanical characterization of cell spheroids, one of the most widely used 3D biology models in vitro, is a hotspot of current research on the role played by the mechanical response of cells and tissues. The techniques proposed so far in the literature, while providing important scientific insights, require a specialized equipment and technical skills which are not usually available in cell biology facilities. Here, we present an innovative rheo-optical compression assay based on microscopy glass coverslips as the load applied to cell spheroids in standard cell culture plates and on image acquisition with an optical microscope or even a smartphone equipped with adequate magnification lenses. Mechanical properties can be simply obtained by correlating the applied load to the deformation of cell spheroids measured by image analysis. The low-cost, user-friendly features of the proposed technique can boost mechanobiology research making it easily affordable to any biomedical lab equipped with cell culture facilities.