Computational analysis of mechanical behaviour of stem cell in
micropipette aspiration technique
Abstract
Mechanical properties of living cells play an important role in helping
to understand cell physiology and pathology. However, to ensure
reliability, it is important to precisely define the experimental
conditions of these mechanical test. In this study, viscoelastic
properties of the outer layer (cytoplasm and membrane) were extracted
using standard linear solid model. Finite element modeling of the
two-layer cell was performed and the model was validated by experimental
data. In the two-layer model, the effect of the radius of the nucleus
and the location of the nucleus on the whole cell behavior were
investigated. By increasing nucleus size, the whole cell properties
follow the nucleus properties and the role of the nucleus becomes more
dominant. By dislocating nucleus inside the cytoplasm, the cell behavior
changes significantly and becomes more similar to that of nucleus
properties. Similarly, changing the aspiration pressure and rate,
impacts the observed behavior drastically. The results demonstrate that
the location of the nucleus and the ratio of the radius of the cytoplasm
to the radius of the nucleus can effectively influence the viscoelastic
properties and mechanical behavior of the cell.