Study of Acto-myosin Cortex Thickness in Stretched Cells

Bala, Tanurjyoti (2017) Study of Acto-myosin Cortex Thickness in Stretched Cells. Masters thesis, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata.

PDF (MS dissertation of Tanurjyoti Bala (12MS066)) Tanurjyoti_Bala_12MS066.pdf - Submitted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (2MB)

Abstract

Cell cortex is a network of actomyosin and crosslinkers that lies underneath the plasma membrane and provides integrity and resistance from cellular osmotic pressure to the cell. The cortex is involved in all cellular processes where cell deformation is required such as cell division, cell migration, tissue morphogenesis, etc. Most of these deformations are driven by changes in physical properties of the cortex, which are dominated by contractile stress (contractility). Here, we speculate that cortex thickness is a parameter that the cell tries to regulate in space and time in order to change local contractile stress of the cell. Many studies have been done in past about physical characteristics of the cortex such as thickness and cortical tension, but less is known about how the dynamic regulation of contractility orchestrates cellular deformation. Direct measurement of contractility of the cortex is extremely challenging because of limitations of existing techniques. In my thesis, I have tried to understand how the cortex would respond in a stretched cell. To do so, we have developed a PDMS based double side stretcher to impart strain of specific frequency and amplitude on cells and observed the change in thickness and amount of actin in the cell cortex before and after the stretch.

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