Accurate assessment of cell stiffness distribution is essential due to the critical role of cell mechanobiology in regulation of vital cellular processes like proliferation, adhesion, migration, and motility. Stiffness provides critical information in understanding onset and progress of various diseases, including metastasis and differentiation of cancer. Atomic force microscopy and optical trapping set the gold standard in stiffness measurements. However, their widespread use has been hampered with long processing times, unreliable contact point determination, physical damage to cells, and unsuitability for multiple cell analysis. Here, we demonstrate a simple, fast, label-free, and high-resolution technique using acoustic stimulation and holographic imaging to reconstruct stiffness maps of single cells. We used this acousto-holographic method to determine stiffness maps of HCT116 and CTC-mimicking HCT116 cells and differentiate between them. Our system would enable widespread use of whole-cell stiffness measurements in clinical and research settings for cancer studies, disease modeling, drug testing, and diagnostics.

由于细胞力学生物学在调节重要细胞过程（如增殖、粘附、迁移和运动）中的关键作用，因此准确评估细胞硬度分布至关重要。硬度为理解各种疾病的发生和进展提供了关键信息，包括癌症的转移和分化。原子力显微镜和光学捕获设定了刚度测量的黄金标准。然而，它们的广泛使用受到处理时间长、接触点确定不可靠、对细胞的物理损伤以及不适合多细胞分析的阻碍。在这里，我们展示了一种简单、快速、无标签和高分辨率的技术，使用声学刺激和全息成像来重建单细胞的刚度图。我们使用这种声全息方法来确定 HCT116 和 CTC 模拟 HCT116 细胞的刚度图并区分它们。我们的系统将使全细胞硬度测量在临床和研究环境中广泛用于癌症研究、疾病建模、药物测试和诊断。