Abstract
Traction force microscopy is a previously-developed method to measure shear forces exerted by biological cells on substrates to which they are adhered (Dembo, 1999). The technique determines the shear stress applied on the surface of a soft polymeric substrate with known mechanical properties by measuring the displacement of micron-scale beads or pattered markers embedded in the surface. Marker displacement is monitored by capturing images of the embedded beads in the substrate when a load is applied. The surface shear stresses can then be calculated from the measured displacement and known elastic properties of the substrate.
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Dembo, M., and Wang, Y. “Stresses at the cell-to-substrate interface during locomotion of fibroblasts” Biophysical Journal. 76:2307–2316, 1999.
Schwarz, U.S., Balaban, N.Q, Riveline, D., et al. “Measurement of cellular forces at focal adhesions using elastic micro-patterned substrates” Materials Science and Engineering C. 23:387–394, 2003.
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Mueller, B. (2011). Measuring Shear Stress in Microfluidics using Traction Force Microscopy. In: Proulx, T. (eds) Experimental and Applied Mechanics, Volume 6. Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9792-0_23
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9792-0_23
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