Microrheology, stress fluctuations, and active behavior of living cells.

Published

Journal Article

We report the first measurements of the intrinsic strain fluctuations of living cells using a recently developed tracer correlation technique along with a theoretical framework for interpreting such data in heterogeneous media with nonthermal driving. The fluctuations' spatial and temporal correlations indicate that the cytoskeleton can be treated as a course-grained continuum with power-law rheology, driven by a spatially random stress tensor field. Combined with recent cell rheology results, our data imply that intracellular stress fluctuations have a nearly 1/omega2 power spectrum, as expected for a continuum with a slowly evolving internal prestress.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Lau, AW; Hoffman, BD; Davies, A; Crocker, JC; Lubensky, TC

Published Date

  • November 3, 2003

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 91 / 19

Start / End Page

  • 198101 -

PubMed ID

  • 14611619

Pubmed Central ID

  • 14611619

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1079-7114

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0031-9007

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1103/physrevlett.91.198101

Language

  • eng