Numeric reconstruction of cytoskeleton

• Grant number: 12/07907-9
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): September 01, 2012
• Effective date (End): January 22, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Biomedical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Adriano Mesquita Alencar
• Grantee: Wagner Shin Nishitani
• Home Institution: Instituto de Física (IF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The importance of mechanical aspects related to cell activity and its environment are becoming more evident due to their influence in stem cell differentiation and in the development of diseases such as atherosclerosis. The mechanical tension homeostasis is related to normal tissue behavior and its lack may be related to the formation of cancer, which shows a higher mechanical tension. Due to the compexity of cellular activity, the application of simplified models may elucidate which factors are really essential and which have a marginal effect. The development of a systematic method to reconstruct the elements involved in the perception of mechanical aspects by the cell may accelerate substancially the validation of these models. This project proposes the development of a routine capable of reconstruct the topology of focal adhesions and the actomyosin portion of the cytoskeleton from the displacement field generated by the cell on a flexible substrate. Another way to think of this problem is to develop an algorithm to reconstruct the forces applied by the cell from the measurements of the substrate displacement, which would characterize an inverse problem. For these kind of problems, the Topology Optimization Method (TOM) is suitable to find a solution. TOM is consisted of an iterative application of an optimization method and an analysis method to obtain an optimal distribution of material in a fixed domain. The substrate displacements will be obtained experimentally using Traction Force Microscopy (TFM), which also provides the forces applied by the cell. Along with generating systematically the distributions of focal adhesion and actin-myosin for the validation of simplified models, the algorithm also represents a complementary and more phenomenological approach to TFM.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

NISHITANI, WAGNER SHIN; ALENCAR, ADRIANO MESQUITA; WANG, YINGXIAO. Rapid and Localized Mechanical Stimulation and Adhesion Assay: TRPM7 Involvement in Calcium Signaling and Cell Adhesion. PLoS One, v. 10, n. 5 MAY 6 2015. Web of Science Citations: 6.

WAGNER SHIN NISHITANI; RONNY CALIXTO CARBONARI; ADRIANO MESQUITA ALENCAR. Numeric reconstruction of 2D cellular actomyosin network from substrate displacement. Res. Biomed. Eng., v. 31, n. 4, p. 328-333, Dez. 2015.