Mechanical properties of alveolar epithelial cells in culture.

With the use of magnetic twisting cytometry, we characterized the mechanical properties of rat type II alveolar epithelial (ATII) cells in primary culture and examined whether the cells' state of differentiation and the application of deforming stresses influence their resistance to shape change. Cells were harvested from rat lungs as previously described (Dobbs LG. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 258: L134-L147, 1990) and plated at a density of 1 x 10(6) cells/cm(2) in fibronectin-coated 96 Remova wells, and their mechanical properties were measured 2-9 days later. We show 1) that ATII cells form much stronger bonds with RGD-coated beads than they do with albumin- or acetylated low-density lipoprotein-coated beads, 2) that RGD-mediated bonds seemingly "mature" during the first 60 min of bead contact, 3) that the apparent stiffness of ATII cells increases with days in culture, 4) that stiffness falls when the RGD-coated beads are intermittently oscillated at 0.3 Hz, and 5) that this fall cannot be attributed to exocytosis-related remodeling of the subcortical cytoskeleton. Although the mechanisms of force transfer between basement membrane, cytoskeleton, and plasma membrane of ATII cells remain to be resolved, such analyses undoubtedly require definition of the cell's mechanical properties. To our knowledge, the results presented here provide the first data on this topic.

Ultrasonic measurement of forced diameter variations in an elastic tube.

This paper presents an ultrasonic measurement technique to determine an elasticity parameter, called the apparent compliance, in a thin-walled tube. The apparent compliance is obtained by ultrasound pulse-echo measurement of the diameter variation in response to an externally applied time-varying pressure function. Specifically, the diameter variation is obtained by tracking the time shift of the echoes from the front and back walls of the tube using a correlation technique. This technique is named the Forced Vibration Method (FVM). This approach to compliance measurement is distinctly different from compliance measurements using the blood function as excitation function, but is closely related to the elastic imaging concept. Two experimental models, termed the rigid wall model and the leg-like model, have been developed. These models allow the amplitude and frequency of the pressure function as well as the dimensions and properties of the tube to be varied. Results for the diameter variations vs. location along the tube and frequency of external pressure function are presented for both models.