Measuring local properties inside a cell‐mimicking structure using rotating optical tweezers

• Published in: Journal of biophotonics Vol. 12; no. 7; pp. e201900022 - n/a
• Main Authors: Zhang, Shu, Gibson, Lachlan J., Stilgoe, Alexander B., Nieminen, Timo A., Rubinsztein‐Dunlop, Halina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA 01-07-2019; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: angular momentum; Biomimetics; Cells (biology); Computational fluid dynamics; hydrodynamics; Lipids; Liposomes; Membranes; Mimicry; miro/nanorheology; Optical properties; Optical traps; optical tweezers; Organelles; Rheological properties; Rheology; Trapped particles; wall effects; wall effects; optical tweezers; hydrodynamics; angular momentum; miro/nanorheology; liposomes
• ISSN: 1864-063X; 1864-0648
• DOI: 10.1002/jbio.201900022

Exploring the rheological properties of intracellular materials is essential for understanding cellular and subcellular processes. Optical traps have been widely used for physical manipulation of micro and nano objects within fluids enabling studies of biological systems. However, experiments remain challenging as it is unclear how the probe particle's mobility is influenced by the nearby membranes and organelles. We use liposomes (unilamellar lipid vesicles) as a simple biomimetic model of living cells, together with a trapped particle rotated by optical tweezers to study mechanical and rheological properties inside a liposome both theoretically and experimentally. Here, we demonstrate that this system has the capacity to predict the hydrodynamic interaction between three‐dimensional spatial membranes and internal probe particles within submicron distances, and it has the potential to aid in the design of high resolution optical micro/nanorheology techniques to be used inside living cells.
Optical traps have been widely used for physical manipulation of micro/nano‐objects within fluids enabling studies of biological systems. However, experiments remain challenging as it is unclear how the probe particle's mobility is influenced by the nearby membranes and organelles. We use liposomes as a simple biomimetic model of living cells, together with a trapped particle rotated by optical tweezers to study mechanical and rheological properties inside a liposome both theoretically and experimentally.