Droplets bumpers as mechanical sensors for cell migration under confinement

Abstract

Mechanical cell forces play determinant roles in cell growth and tissue development. Cell migration is a relevant context to explore single cell forces, since mechanotransduction and cell morphology are dynamically and biochemically co-regulated in order to modulate cell shape changes minute to minute. In this work we present the design of a hybrid microdevice made from a set of parallel PDMS microchannels in which oil emulsion droplets are introduced to be used as biocompatible and deformable cell forces transducers upon HL-60 human leukemia cell line migration. We show that the mechanical stress exerted by the cells can be measured from the analysis of the droplets deformations at the single cell level. Finally we show that acto-myosin contraction plays a role in the cell ability to cross obstacles in confinement conditions.