ArticleNature materials2013
The cytoplasm of living cells behaves as a poroelastic material.
Article in Nature materials, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 231 papers.
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231 citing papers in PubMed.
- Real-Time Monitoring of Mass and Mechanical Properties in Single Cells and Multicellular Spheroids.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Mechanical cues of an interpenetrating polysaccharide matrix regulate self-assembly of collagen fibers.Science advances · 2026Article
- [Coupling characteristics of cellular electroporation and electrodeformation based on dynamic Young's modulus: influence of membrane thickness].Sheng wu yi xue gong cheng xue za zhi = Journal of biomedical engineering = Shengwu yixue gongchengxue zazhi · 2026Article
- Mechanics of compression-driven morphogenesis.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2026Review
- Proteolysis at the extracellular matrix interface: Molecular architects and regulators in health and disease.The FEBS journal · 2026Review
- Direct mechanical communication of cellular to nuclear shapes in oocytes.Biophysical journal · 2026Article
- Advancing mechanobiology from single molecules to complex cellular systems.Nature nanotechnology · 2026Review
- Investigating active dynamics of contractile actomyosin gels with micro particle image velocimetry (micro-PIV) analysis.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Cell Mechanics in Cancer: Integrating Mechanotransduction Pathways Within the Tumor Microenvironment.Journal of cellular physiology · 2026Review
- CaMKII nucleates an osmotic protein supercomplex to induce cellular bleb expansion.The EMBO journal · 2026Article
- The cytoplasm of living cells can sustain transient and steady intracellular pressure gradients.eLife · 2026Article
- Stretch and flow at the gliovascular interface: High-fidelity modeling of astrocyte endfeet.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Scale-Specific Viscoelastic Characterization of Hydrogels: Integrated AFM and Finite Element Modeling.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Article
- Allostery in Biomolecular Condensates.Journal of molecular biology · 2026Review
- Molecular Motors Orchestrate Pause-and-Run Dynamics to Facilitate Intracellular Transport.Biomolecules · 2026Article
- Cytoplasmic crowding acts as a porous medium reducing macromolecule diffusion.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Plectin affects cell viscoelasticity at small and large deformations.Biophysical journal · 2026Article
- Mechanobiology of hippocampal neurogenesis: directing neural stem cell fate through physical cues.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2026Review
- Assessing the Effects of Microgravity on Eukaryotic Cells Using a Statistical Thermodynamic Approach.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2026Article
- Active fluctuations of cytoplasmic actomyosin networks facilitate dynein-driven transport.iScience · 2025Article
171 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Abstract
The cytoplasm is the largest part of the cell by volume and hence its rheology sets the rate at which cellular shape changes can occur. Recent experimental evidence suggests that cytoplasmic rheology can be described by a poroelastic model, in which the cytoplasm is treated as a biphasic material consisting of a porous elastic solid meshwork (cytoskeleton, organelles, macromolecules) bathed in an interstitial fluid (cytosol). In this picture, the rate of cellular deformation is limited by the rate at which intracellular water can redistribute within the cytoplasm. However, direct supporting evidence for the model is lacking. Here we directly validate the poroelastic model to explain cellular rheology at short timescales using microindentation tests in conjunction with mechanical, chemical and genetic treatments. Our results show that water redistribution through the solid phase of the cytoplasm (cytoskeleton and macromolecular crowders) plays a fundamental role in setting cellular rheology at short timescales.
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