ArticleBiophysical journal1999
Measurement of local viscoelasticity and forces in living cells by magnetic tweezers.
Article in Biophysical journal, 1999. 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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Who cites it
231 citing papers in PubMed.
- Nuclear mechanotransduction: tools for mechanical perturbation and chromatin characterization.Nucleus (Austin, Tex.) · 2026Review
- Magnetic DNA Origami Nanorotors.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- Magnetically Driven Biofabrication for Tissue Engineering: From Nanoparticle Design to Mag-ATMP Translation.Advanced healthcare materials · 2026Review
- Selective photoacoustic handling of microparticles via annular laser beams.Microsystems & nanoengineering · 2026Article
- Development and Characterization of a FRET-based Formin Tension Sensor in Living Cells.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Many dynein teams collectively generate high forces during the transport of large organelles.Biophysical journal · 2026Article
- Protein force spectroscopy using magnetic tweezers: Slow and steady wins the race?Biophysical journal · 2026Review
- Massart iron oxide nanoparticles in mechanobiology.Nanoscale advances · 2026Review
- Unified Transcriptome and Mechanics Map of the Intact Mammalian Preimplantation Embryo In Situ.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- High-frequency micro-viscoelasticity of biofluids by using optical trapping interferometry.Biophysical reviews · 2026Review
- Gigantol Preserves Lens Biophysical Homeostasis by Restoring Cytoskeletal Integrity and Membrane Fluidity in a Diabetic Cataract Model.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Hybrid Physics-Informed and Bayesian Modeling of Single-Nanoparticle-Cell Adhesion Kinetics under Cytoskeletal Perturbation.Computational and structural biotechnology journal · 2026Article
- Brillouin Microscopy of Breast tumor Spheroids On-a-Chip: Mechanical and Transcriptional Responses to Microfluidic-Induced Rapid Deformations.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Non-Invasive Three-Dimensional Cell Manipulation Technology Based on Acoustic Microfluidic Chips.Micromachines · 2025Article
- Adherent cells undergo rate softening mediated by actomyosin kinetics.Biophysical journal · 2025Article
- Measuring molecular forces inside living cells using magnetic tweezers.Biophysical reviews · 2025Review
- Kinesin-Driven De-Mixing of Cytoskeleton Composites Drives Emergent Mechanical Properties.Macromolecular rapid communications · 2025Article
- Low-cost robotic manipulation of live microtissues for cancer drug testing.Science advances · 2025Article
- Metabolically intact nuclei are fluidized by the activity of the chromatin remodeling motor BRG1.Biophysical journal · 2025Article
- Structural response of microtubule and actin cytoskeletons to direct intracellular load.The Journal of cell biology · 2025Article
171 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We measured the viscoelastic properties of the cytoplasm of J774 macrophages with a recently developed microrheometer. Ferromagnetic beads (1.3 microm in diameter) were used to determine the local viscoelastic moduli. Step-force pulses were applied to the magnetic beads and the displacement was observed by single particle tracking. By analyzing the creep response curves in terms of a triphasic mechanical equivalent circuit, we measured the shear elastic modulus, the effective viscosities, and the strain relaxation time. The values of the shear modulus vary by more than an order of magnitude within the cell population (range, 20-735 Pa; average, 343 Pa) and by a factor of 2 within single cells. The effective viscosity of the cytoplasm exhibits a relatively sharp distribution about an average of eta = 210 Pa s (+/- 143 Pa s). We measured the displacement field generated by the local forces by observing the induced motion of nonmagnetic beads. Even at distances of the order of 1 microm, no induced motion was seen, suggesting that the cytoplasm is composed of clusters of densely packed and cross-linked filaments separated by soft regions. In another series of experiments we analyzed the magnetophoretic motion of the ferromagnetic beads at a constant magnetic force. Measuring the bead velocity parallel and perpendicular to the applied force showed that local active forces on the beads varied from 50 to 900 pN.
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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.