ArticleJournal of biomechanics2016
Differential effects of LifeAct-GFP and actin-GFP on cell mechanics assessed using micropipette aspiration.
Article in Journal of biomechanics, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 64 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Cytoskeleton in Space.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2026Article
- Functional fluorescence labeling of actins in live-cell system using engineered split-GFP technology.Molecular biology of the cell · 2025Article
- Nascent actin dynamics and the disruption of calcium dynamics by actin arrest in developing neural cell networks.Communications biology · 2025Article
- A red fluorescent lifeact marker to study actin morphology in podocytes.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Structure of the F-tractin-F-actin complex.The Journal of cell biology · 2025Article
- N-Cadherin based adhesion and Rac1 activity regulate tension polarization in the actin cortex.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Gliding motility of the diatom Craspedostauros australis coincides with the intracellular movement of raphid-specific myosins.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Protein nanobarcodes enable single-step multiplexed fluorescence imaging.PLoS biology · 2023Article
- Branched-chain actin dynamics polarizes vesicle trajectories and partitions apicobasal epithelial membrane domains.Science advances · 2023Article
- Development and Application of an Optogenetic Manipulation System to Suppress Actomyosin Activity inInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- A Continuum-Tensegrity Computational Model for Chondrocyte Biomechanics in AFM Indentation and Micropipette Aspiration.Annals of biomedical engineering · 2022Article
- Three-dimensional microenvironment regulates gene expression, function, and tight junction dynamics of iPSC-derived blood-brain barrier microvessels.Fluids and barriers of the CNS · 2022Article
- Molecular determinants of intrinsic cellular stiffness in health and disease.Biophysical reviews · 2022Review
- Review
- Biophysical Approaches for Applying and Measuring Biological Forces.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2022Review
- Live Fluorescence Imaging of F-Actin Organization in Chick Whole Embryo Cultures Using SiR-Actin.Cells · 2021Article
- Structure of the Lifeact-F-actin complex.PLoS biology · 2020Article
- Modulation of Actin Filament Dynamics by Inward Rectifying of Potassium Channel Kir2.1.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Article
- Anti-tumor effects ofHeliyon · 2020Article
- Recent Advances on the Model, Measurement Technique, and Application of Single Cell Mechanics.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The actin cytoskeleton forms a dynamic structure involved in many fundamental cellular processes including the control of cell morphology, migration and biomechanics. Recently LifeAct-GFP (green fluorescent protein) has been proposed for visualising actin structure and dynamics in live cells as an alternative to actin-GFP which has been shown to affect cell mechanics. Here we compare the two approaches in terms of their effect on cellular mechanical behaviour. Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) were analysed using micropipette aspiration and the effective cellular equilibrium and instantaneous moduli calculated using the standard linear solid model. We show that LifeAct-GFP provides clearer visualisation of F-actin organisation and dynamics. Furthermore, LifeAct-GFP does not alter effective cellular mechanical properties whereas actin-GFP expression causes an increase in the cell modulus. Interestingly, LifeAct-GFP expression did produce a small (~10%) increase in the percentage of cells exhibiting aspiration-induced membrane bleb formation, whilst actin-GFP expression reduced blebbing. Further studies examined the influence of LifeAct-GFP in other cell types, namely chondrogenically differentiated hMSCs and murine chondrocytes. LifeAct-GFP also had no effect on the moduli of these non-blebbing cells for which mechanical properties are largely dependent on the actin cortex. In conclusion we show that LifeAct-GFP enables clearer visualisation of actin organisation and dynamics without disruption of the biomechanical properties of either the whole cell or the actin cortex. Thus the study provides new evidence supporting the use of LifeAct-GFP rather than actin-GFP for live cell microscopy and the study of cellular mechanobiology.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.