https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-023-04609-7
Regular Article
Does cellular elastic modulus change due to subculture and fixation: an atomic force microscopy study of nucleus pulposus cells in vitro
1
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, No. 119 South 4Th Ring West Road, Fengtai District, 100070, Beijing, China
2
School of Biomedical Engineering, Capital Medical University, 100069, Beijing, China
3
Beijing Key Laboratory of Fundamental Research on Biomechanics in Clinical Application, Capital Medical University, 100069, Beijing, China
Received:
19
June
2023
Accepted:
17
October
2023
Published online:
29
October
2023
Cervical spinal degenerative disease (CSDD) is the progressive deterioration of cervical intervertebral disk (IVD) and is strongly related to the degeneration, necrosis, and apoptosis of nucleus pulposus cells (NPCs). The cellular mechanics of cervical NPCs is essential for the biomechanics of degenerative IVD and the pathogenesis of CSDD. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) can be used to quantify the cellular morphology and mechanics. However, the cellular subculture and experimental conditions may influence the cellular elastic modulus of the NPCs. In this study, cervical nucleus pulposus cells were cultured in vitro and their cellular elastic modulus were measured using AFM to explore the influence of cell subculture and cell fixation on the elastic modulus. To this end, the cellular morphology and mechanical properties of the HNPCs were successfully quantified by AFM. The elastic modulus of the primary NPCs was maintained with P2 generation (2 passages in vitro) cells during the in vitro culture and the elastic modulus increased after fixation. The results of this study lay the foundation for further research. P2 generation, living NPCs are recommended as the experimental subject for exploring the cellular mechanics mechanisms of cervical degenerative disease.
Bowei Xiao and Tianchi Zhou have equally contributed to this study.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2023. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
