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Cell spreading on quartz crystal microbalance elicits positive frequency shifts indicative of viscosity changes

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Abstract

Cell attachment and spreading on solid surfaces was investigated with a home-made quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), which measures the frequency, the transient decay time constant and the maximal oscillation amplitude. Initial interactions of the adsorbing cells with the QCM mainly induced a decrease of the frequency, coincident with mass adsorption. After about 80 min, the frequency increased continuously and after several hours exceeded the initial frequency measured before cell adsorption. Phase contrast and fluorescence microscopy indicated that the cells were firmly attached to the quartz surface during the frequency increase. The measurements of the maximal oscillation amplitude and the transient decay time constant revealed changes of viscoelastic properties at the QCM surface. An important fraction of these changes was likely due to alterations of cytosolic viscosity, as suggested by treatments of the attached cells with agents affecting the actin and microtubule cytoskeleton. Our results show that viscosity variations of cells can affect the resonance frequency of QCM in the absence of apparent cell desorption. The simultaneous measurements of the maximal oscillation amplitude, the transient decay time constant and the resonance frequency allow an analysis of cell adsorption to solid substratum in real time and complement cell biological methods.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge Laurent Spicher and Francis Bourqui for their work in the building of the QCM. We also thank Bianca Saam and Karin Boucke for the cell culture and Dr Robert Stidwill for the confocal images. This work was supported by the Dr h.c. Robert Mathys Stiftung (RMS) Foundation and the Swiss National Science Foundation (TopNano21).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Solid State Physics Research Group, University of Fribourg, Pérolles, , 1700, Fribourg, , Switzerland

    Carine Galli Marxer, Martine Collaud Coen & Louis Schlapbach

  2. Institute of Physics, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, , 8057, Zürich, , Switzerland

    Thomas Greber

  3. Institute of Zoology, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, , 8057, Zürich, , Switzerland

    Urs F. Greber

  4. Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research, Ueberlandstr. 129, , 8600, Dübendorf, , Switzerland

    Louis Schlapbach

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  1. Carine Galli Marxer
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  2. Martine Collaud Coen
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  3. Thomas Greber
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  4. Urs F. Greber
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  5. Louis Schlapbach
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Correspondence to Carine Galli Marxer.

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Galli Marxer, C., Collaud Coen, M., Greber, T. et al. Cell spreading on quartz crystal microbalance elicits positive frequency shifts indicative of viscosity changes. Anal Bioanal Chem 377, 578–586 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-003-2080-1

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