The cytoskeletal mechanics and cell mechanical properties play an important role in cellular behaviors. In this study, in order to provide comprehensive insights into the relationship between different cytoskeletal components and cellular elastic moduli, we built a phase-modulated surface acoustic wave microfluidic device to measure cellular compressibility and a microfluidic micropipette-aspiration device to measure cellular Young's modulus. The microfluidic devices were validated based on experimental data and computational simulations. The contributions of structural cytoskeletal actin filament and microtubule to cellular compressibility and Young's modulus were examined in MCF-7 cells. The compressibility of MCF-7 cells was increased after microtubule disruption, whereas actin disruption had no effect. In contrast, Young's modulus of MCF-7 cells was reduced after actin disruption but unaffected by microtubule disruption. The actin filaments and microtubules were stained to confirm the structural alteration in cytoskeleton. Our findings suggest the dissimilarity in the structural roles of actin filaments and microtubules in terms of cellular compressibility and Young's modulus. Based on the differences in location and structure, actin filaments mainly contribute to tensile Young's modulus and microtubules mainly contribute to compressibility. In addition, different responses to cytoskeletal alterations between acoustophoresis and micropipette aspiration demonstrated that micropipette aspiration was better at detecting the change from actin cortex, while the response to acoustophoresis was governed by microtubule networks.

中文翻译：

---

片上表面声波和微量移液器抽吸技术可评估细胞的弹性。

细胞骨架力学和细胞力学特性在细胞行为中起重要作用。在这项研究中，为了提供对不同细胞骨架成分与细胞弹性模量之间关系的全面了解，我们构建了一种可测量细胞可压缩性的相位调制表面声波微流体装置以及一种用于测量细胞杨氏模量的微流体微吸管抽吸装置。基于实验数据和计算仿真对微流体装置进行了验证。在MCF-7细胞中检查了结构性细胞骨架肌动蛋白丝和微管对细胞可压缩性和杨氏模量的贡献。微管破坏后，MCF-7细胞的可压缩性增加，而肌动蛋白破坏没有影响。相反，Young' 肌动蛋白破坏后，MCF-7细胞的模量降低，但不受微管破坏的影响。肌动蛋白丝和微管被染色以确认细胞骨架的结构改变。我们的发现表明，就细胞可压缩性和杨氏模量而言，肌动蛋白丝和微管在结构作用上的差异。基于位置和结构的差异，肌动蛋白丝主要有助于拉伸杨氏模量，而微管则主要有助于压缩性。此外，对声泳和微吸管抽吸之间的细胞骨架改变的不同反应表明，微吸管抽吸更易于检测肌动蛋白皮层的变化，而对声泳的响应则由微管网络控制。