Mechanical testing of cells for diagnostics and therapy reasons

The mechanical changes of the cells can alter cell functions such as differentiation, migration, adhesion, synthesis and their life cycle. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is an advance technology to study mechanical, electrical and magnetic characteristics of cells both qualitatively and quantitatively at nano- scale. New models are required to measure the mechanical properties like elastic modulus from the force-displacement curves derived from the AFM. Elastic modulus can be used in the therapeutic and diagnostic fields such as cancer. In this study different contact models have been investigated. One of the good theories for modelling the cells is the “Deformation of the shell theory”. In this theory the volume of the cell assumes to be constant after deformation. Applying this assumption the volume of the deformed cell with the conical indenter can be calculated. In this situation the bending energy becomes dominant. After calculating the bending energy, the relation between the applied force and deformation can be derived. From obtained model, the elastic modulus of the cell at different stages such as differentiation and transition can be calculated.