ArticleBiophysical journal2005
Multiple membrane tethers probed by atomic force microscopy.
Article in Biophysical journal, 2005. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 78 papers.
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Who cites it
78 citing papers in PubMed.
- Controlling membrane tension by dynamic DNA nanorings.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Prediction-Based Algorithms for Long-Range High-Speed Force Spectroscopy.Journal of molecular recognition : JMR · 2026Article
- Review
- A guide to characterizing the dynamic mitochondria-endoplasmic reticulum contact sites.The FEBS journal · 2025Review
- Force spectroscopy reveals membrane fluctuations and surface adhesion of extracellular nanovesicles impact their elastic behavior.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Characterization of a unique attachment organelle: Single-cell force spectroscopy ofNanoscale · 2024Article
- Review
- Global lipid remodelling by hypoxia aggravates migratory potential in pancreatic cancer while maintaining plasma membrane homeostasis.Biochimica et biophysica acta. Molecular and cell biology of lipids · 2023Article
- Article
- Extensible membrane nanotubules mediate attachment of Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes under flow.PloS one · 2023Article
- Nucleotide-Induced Nanoscale Changes in the Mechanical Properties of Rat Cerebellar Astrocytes: Selective Stimulation and Blocking of the Purinergic Receptor P2X7.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Molecular Shape Solution for Mesoscopic Remodeling of Cellular Membranes.Annual review of biophysics · 2022Review
- Microfabricated cantilevers for parallelized cell-cell adhesion measurements.European biophysics journal : EBJ · 2022Article
- Compromised Biomechanical Properties, Cell-Cell Adhesion and Nanotubes Communication in Cardiac Fibroblasts Carrying the Lamin A/C D192G Mutation.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Article
- Dynamic interplay between cell membrane tension and clathrin-mediated endocytosis.Biology of the cell · 2021Review
- From the first touch to biofilm establishment by the human pathogen Candida glabrata: a genome-wide to nanoscale view.Communications biology · 2021Article
- Biomechanics of Neutrophil Tethers.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Kindlin3 regulates biophysical properties and mechanics of membrane to cortex attachment.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2021Article
- Visualizing the Invisible: Advanced Optical Microscopy as a Tool to Measure Biomechanical Forces.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2021Review
- Article
18 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Using the atomic force microscope to locally probe the cell membrane, we observed the formation of multiple tethers (thin nanotubes, each requiring a similar pulling force) as reproducible features within force profiles recorded on individual cells. Forces obtained with Chinese hamster ovary cells, a malignant human brain tumor cell line, and human endothelial cells (EA hy926) were found to be 28 +/- 10 pN, 29 +/- 9 pN, and 29 +/- 10 pN, respectively, independent of the nature of attachment to the cantilever. The rather large variation of the tether pulling forces measured at several locations on individual cells points to the existence of heterogeneity in the membrane properties of a morphologically homogeneous cell. Measurement of the summary lengths of the simultaneously extracted tethers provides a measure of the size of the available membrane reservoir through which co-existing tethers are associated. As expected, partial disruption of the actin cytoskeleton and removal of the hyaluronan backbone of the glycocalyx were observed to result in a marked decrease (30-50%) in the magnitude and a significant sharpening of the force distribution indicating reduced heterogeneity of membrane properties. Taken together, our results demonstrate the ability of the plasma membrane to locally produce multiple interdependent tethers-a process that could play an important role in the mechanical association of cells with their environment.
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