Black Dots: Microcontact-Printed, Reference-Free Traction Force Microscopy

Abstract

Measuring the traction forces produced by cells provides insight into their behavior and physiological function. Here, we developed a technique (dubbed black dots) that microcontact prints a fluorescent micropattern onto a flexible substrate to measure cellular traction forces without constraining cell shape or needing to detach the cells. To demonstrate our technique, we assessed human platelets, which can generate a large range of forces within a population. We find platelets that exert more force have more spread area, are more circular, and have more uniformly distributed F-actin filaments. As a result of the high yield of data obtainable by this technique, we were able to evaluate multivariate mixed effects models with interaction terms and conduct a clustering analysis to identify clusters within our data. These statistical techniques demonstrated a complex relationship between spread area, circularity, F-actin dispersion, and platelet force, including cooperative effects that significantly associate with platelet traction forces. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=79 SRC="FIGDIR/small/454500v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (32K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1da5eeeorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@18e939aorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@17c7198org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@105c97c_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG