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Liposome adhesion generates traction stress

Nature Physics volume 10, pages 163–169 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Mechanical forces generated by cells modulate global shape changes required for essential life processes, such as polarization, division and spreading. Although the contribution of the cytoskeleton to cellular force generation is widely recognized, the role of the membrane is considered to be restricted to passively transmitting forces. Therefore, the mechanisms by which the membrane can directly contribute to cell tension are overlooked and poorly understood. To address this, we directly measure the stresses generated during liposome adhesion. We find that liposome spreading generates large traction stresses on compliant substrates. These stresses can be understood as the equilibration of internal, hydrostatic pressures generated by the enhanced membrane tension built up during adhesion. These results underscore the role of membranes in the generation of mechanical stresses on cellular length scales and that the modulation of hydrostatic pressure due to membrane tension and adhesion can be channelled to perform mechanical work on the environment.

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Figure 1: The dynamics of liposome spreading depends on substrate stiffness.
Figure 2: Liposome adhesion deforms soft substrates.
Figure 3: Substrate traction stress varies with liposome size.
Figure 4: Substrate contraction induces compression of the membrane and budding of the bilayer at the contact zone.
Figure 5: Minimization of energy drives substrate contraction.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge financial support from NSF Grant DMR-0844115 for postdoctoral fellowship support to M.P.M. as well as the ICAM Branches Cost Sharing Fund. M.G. acknowledges support from the Burroughs Wellcome CASI award, Packard Foundation, and University of Chicago MRSEC. M.P.M. and C.S. acknowledge support from the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) Grant ANR 12BSV5001401, and the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale Grant DEQ20120323737. We thank U. Schwarz (University of Heidelberg) for use of traction force algorithms.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Pierre Nassoy, Cécile Sykes and Margaret L. Gardel: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, James Franck Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois I60637, USA

    Michael P. Murrell & Margaret L. Gardel

  2. Institut Curie, Centre de Recherche, Laboratoire Physico-Chimie, UMR168, Paris F-75248, France

    Michael P. Murrell, Jean-François Joanny, Pierre Nassoy & Cécile Sykes

  3. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR168, Paris F-75248, France

    Michael P. Murrell, Jean-François Joanny, Pierre Nassoy & Cécile Sykes

  4. Université Paris 6, Paris F-75248, France

    Michael P. Murrell, Jean-François Joanny, Pierre Nassoy & Cécile Sykes

  5. Laboratoire Jean Perrin, CNRS FRE 3231, and Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée, CNRS UMR 7600, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 place Jussieu, Paris F-75005, France

    Raphaël Voituriez

  6. Institut d’Optique, LP2N, UMR 5298, Talence F-33405, France

    Pierre Nassoy

  7. The Department of Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois I60637, USA

    Margaret L. Gardel

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Contributions

M.P.M. performed experiments. M.L.G. developed analytical tools. R.V., J-F.J., P.N. and C.S. contributed theory and calculations. M.P.M., R.V., J-F.J., P.N., C.S. and M.L.G. wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Michael P. Murrell.

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Murrell, M., Voituriez, R., Joanny, JF. et al. Liposome adhesion generates traction stress. Nature Phys 10, 163–169 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2855

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