Background: Different diseases affect both mechanical and chemical features of the involved tissue, enhancing the symptoms.
Methods: In this study, using atomic force microscopy, we mechanically characterized human ovarian tissues with four distinct pathological conditions: mucinous, serous, and mature teratoma tumors, and non-tumorous endometriosis. Mechanical elasticity profiles were quantified and the resultant data were categorized using K-means clustering method, as well as fuzzy C-means, to evaluate elastic moduli of cellular and non-cellular parts of diseased tissues and compare them among four disease conditions. Samples were stained by hematoxylin–eosin staining to further study the content of different locations of tissues.
Results: Pathological state vastly influenced the mechanical properties of the ovarian tissues. Significant alterations among elastic moduli of both cellular and non-cellular parts were observed. Mature teratoma tumors commonly composed of multiple cell types and heterogeneous ECM structure showed the widest range of elasticity profile and the stiffest average elastic modulus of 14 kPa. Samples of serous tumors were the softest tissues with elastic modulus of only 400 Pa for the cellular part and 5 kPa for the ECM. Tissues of other two diseases were closer in mechanical properties as mucinous tumors were insignificantly stiffer than endometriosis in cellular part, 1300 Pa compared to 1000 Pa, with the ECM average elastic modulus of 8 kPa for both.
Conclusion: The higher incidence of carcinoma out of teratoma and serous tumors may be related to the intense alteration of mechanical features of the cellular and the ECM, serving as a potential risk factor which necessitates further investigation.



中文翻译：

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基于 AFM 的卵巢组织病理状况的纳米力学研究。

背景：不同的疾病会影响相关组织的机械和化学特征，从而加重症状。
方法：在这项研究中，我们使用原子力显微镜对具有四种不同病理状况的人类卵巢组织进行机械表征：粘液性、浆液性和成熟畸胎瘤肿瘤，以及非肿瘤性子宫内膜异位症。对机械弹性曲线进行量化，并使用 K-means 聚类方法和模糊 C-means 对所得数据进行分类，以评估患病组织的细胞和非细胞部分的弹性模量，并在四种疾病状况之间进行比较。通过苏木精-伊红染色对样品进行染色，以进一步研究组织不同位置的含量。
结果：病理状态极大地影响了卵巢组织的力学性能。观察到细胞和非细胞部分的弹性模量之间的显着变化。成熟畸胎瘤肿瘤通常由多种细胞类型和异质 ECM 结构组成，其弹性分布范围最广，平均弹性模量最高，为 14 kPa。浆液性肿瘤样本是最软的组织，细胞部分的弹性模量仅为 400 Pa，ECM 的弹性模量为 5 kPa。其他两种疾病的组织在机械性能上更接近，因为粘液性肿瘤的细胞部分比子宫内膜异位症更硬，1300 Pa 与 1000 Pa 相比，ECM 平均弹性模量均为 8 kPa。
结论：畸胎瘤和浆液性肿瘤的癌发生率较高可能与细胞和 ECM 的机械特征的强烈改变有关，这是需要进一步研究的潜在危险因素。