Quantification of the cell-substratum contact and cell lift-off under different intra/extracellular conditions.

Analyses of images of the cell-to-substratum region of contact have been carried out by the means of total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy during both the formation and the dissolution of cellular contacts. The evolutions of the cellular contacts are visualized during the adhesion process under normal and virus-infected intracellular conditions, and during the lift-off process under various toxicities of the extracellular medium fluid. Then, propositions are developed for quantifying the cell viabilities by estimating the increase in the area of contact for the adhesion process and by specifying the maximum intensity of the TIRF image for the lift-off process.