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Mechanical behavior Analysis of Cancerous Cells in the Micropipette Aspiration Using Finite Element Simulations

Ghoytasi, Ebrahim | 2020

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  1. Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
  2. Language: Farsi
  3. Document No: 53525 (08)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Mechanical Engineering
  6. Advisor(s): Naghdabadi, Reza; Bavi, Omid
  7. Abstract:
  8. Diseases such as cancer lead to extensive conversion in the biological structure of cells. These conversions can overshadow cell function. The dynamics of a cell directly depends on how it interacts with other cells and the extracellular environment. Most of these interactions are associated with the occurrence of mechanical phenomena and are due to forces that the cell has experienced. Cell mechanics manifests itself in the Mechanotransduction, the ability of a cell to sense and respond to external forces. Cancer alters the mechanical properties of the components of the cytoskeleton. Understanding the biomechanical behavior of cells and cytoskeleton can play an important role in early detection and diagnosis of diseases, especially cancer. Various methods and models have been proposed to analyze the behavior and mechanical properties of cells, including the Micropipette Aspiration technique. This method is used to study the time-dependent behavior of cells and their elastic and viscoelastic properties.In this regard, the focus of this research is on the study of the mechanical behavior of cancer cells by the micropipette aspiration technique. Ramp and creep tests have been simulated to investigate the deformation and response of cancer cells to different environmental conditions and to analyze their behavioral differences. During the process of cell aspiration into the micropipette, the effects of the size of the internal diameter of the micropipette, the radius of curvature of its tip, its material and the difference of aspiration pressure on the behavior of cells have been investigated. The results show that increasing the micropipette diameter and aspiration pressure causes more deformation of the cells. In other words, in the ramp test, when the value of the Rp* (R_P^*=R_P⁄R_c ) ratio increases, the aspirated length of the SW48 cell is approximately 6.45% longer than that of the HT29 cell. It also increases the stabilization time of cells during aspiration. The larger the radius of curvature, the lower the local stress concentration inside the cells in the area of contact with the tip of the micropipette. This makes the cells deform more easily. In the meantime, it is observed that as the coefficient of sliding friction between the cell surface and the micropipette wall increases, the equilibrium aspirated length of the cells decreases exponentially. Comparing the behavior of HT29 and SW48 cancer cells, it can be seen that cells with higher cancer rates experience more deformations. But they respond later to changing environmental factors. Thus, in the creep test, the equilibrium time of SW48 cell is approximately 12.6% higher than that of HT29 cell. The mechanical behaviors observed from the cells can deepen our understanding of the biomechanical behavior of the cytoskeleton and the mechanical transduction changes. Therefore, this research provides valuable information to researchers and physicians in this area
  9. Keywords:
  10. Cytoskeleton ; Finite Element Method ; Cancer Cells ; Cell Mechanics ; Micropipette Aspiration

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