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Direct, high-resolution measurement of furrow stiffening during division of adherent cells

Nature Cell Biology volume 3, pages 607–610 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

It is unclear whether cell division is driven by cortical relaxation outside the equatorial region or cortical contractility within the developing furrow alone. To approach this question, a technique is required that can monitor spatially-resolved changes in cortical stiffness with good time resolution. We employed atomic force microscopy (AFM), in force-mapping mode, to track dynamic changes in the stiffness of the cortex of adherent cultured cells along a single scan-line during M phase, from metaphase to cytokinesis. Video microscopy, which we used to correlate the AFM data with mitotic events identified by light microscopy, indicated that the AFM force-mapping technique does not perturb dividing cells. Here we show that cortical stiffening occurs over the equatorial region about 160 seconds before any furrow appears, and that this stiffening markedly increases as the furrow starts. By contrast, polar relaxation of cells does not seem to be an obligatory event for cell division to occur.

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Figure 1: Paired, single height and elasticity profiles of a PtK2 cell during M phase.
Figure 2: An AFM contact-mode image of conjoined NRK daughter cells.
Figure 3: Time evolution of height (red) and elasticity (blue) of one point in the equatorial region of a dividing PtK1 cell.
Figure 4: Sequence of pole-to-pole height profiles over the central region of a dividing PtK2 cell.

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Acknowledgements

We thank J. Canman, A. Harris and T. Salmon (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), Y. Wang (University of Massachusetts), and J. White (University of Wisconsin) for advice. We also thank B. Bement (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and D. Fishkind (University of Notre Dame) for criticism. We thank S. Bolz and T. Gloe (Ludwig-Maximilians University) for help with confocal microscopy and A. Kardinal for technical assistance. K.J. also thanks H. Gaub (Ludwig-Maximilians University) for hospitality. This work was partially supported by an NIH grant (to K.J.) and by the Deutsche Forschungs-meinscraft (to R.M. and M.R.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Nanoscience, Ludwig Maximilians Universität München, Amalienstrasse 54, München, D-80799, Germany

    Rainer Matzke

  2. Department of Cell and Developmental Biology and Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Research Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 27599 – 7090, North Carolina, USA

    Ken Jacobson

  3. Drittes Physikalisches Institut, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Bürgerstrasse 42, Göttingen, D-37073, Germany

    Manfred Radmacher

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  1. Rainer Matzke
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Correspondence to Ken Jacobson.

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Matzke, R., Jacobson, K. & Radmacher, M. Direct, high-resolution measurement of furrow stiffening during division of adherent cells. Nat Cell Biol 3, 607–610 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35078583

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