Evaluation of the Correlation between Focal Adhesion Kinase Phosphorylation and Cell Adhesion Force Using “DEP” Technology

Sensors

Chyung Ay¹  Chih-Chang Yeh³  Min-Chih Hsu¹  Huaang-Youh Hurng¹  Philip Chi Lip Kwok² 

[1] Department of Biomechatronic Engineering, National Chiayi University, No. 300, University Road, East District, Chiayi 600, Taiwan; E-Mails:;Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong; E-Mail:;Department of Orthopaedics, Chiayi Branch, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, No.600, Sec. 2, Shixian Road, West District, Chiayi City 60090, Taiwan; E-Mail:

关键词: DEP force;    focal adhesion kinase;    cell adhesion force;    collagen;    fibronectin;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s120505951

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Dielectrophoresis (DEP) is the phenomenon in which a particle, such as a living cell, is polarized and moved by electrical gravity in a non-uniform electric field. In the present study, the DEP force is utilized to act on the cells to induce spatial movement for investigating the correlation between the cell adhesion force and activation level of focal adhesion kinase (FAK). The DEP force produced by the non-uniform electric field was used to measure the cell adhesion force of ECV304 cells, on type 1 collagen (COL1)- and fibronectin (FN)-coated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membranes. For COL1-coating, ECV304 cells revealed weak and variable adhesion force (0.343–0.760 nN) in the first eight hours of incubation. Interestingly, the cell adhesion force of ECV304 at two and five hours of cultivation was significantly high and matched their FAK activation level. In comparison, ECV304 on FN-coated membrane had higher and more stable cell adhesion force (0.577–2.053 nN). FN coating intensified the cell adhesion force of ECV304 with culture time and similar outcome was present on the activation level of FAK. Therefore, this study demonstrated a relationship between cell adhesion force and FAK activation level that was dependant on the choice of the extracellular matrix (ECM) component. Subsequently, two tyrosine kinase inhibitors (AG18 and genistein) and one PI3K inhibitor (LY294002) were applied to study the influence of protein phosphorylation on the cell adhesion force. FAK plays an important role on cell attachment and DEP force measurement is a useful technique for studying cell adhesion.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2012 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.