Volume 8, Issue 9 pp. 694-704
Full Article

The use of optical trap and microbeam to investigate the mechanical and transport characteristics of tunneling nanotubes in tumor spheroids

Pooja Patheja

Corresponding Author

Pooja Patheja

Laser Biomedical Applications and Instrumentation Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, 452013 India

Corresponding authors: e-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

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Raktim Dasgupta

Corresponding Author

Raktim Dasgupta

Laser Biomedical Applications and Instrumentation Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, 452013 India

Department of Theory and Bio-systems, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, 14476 Potsdam, Germany

Corresponding authors: e-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

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Alok Dube

Alok Dube

Laser Biomedical Applications and Instrumentation Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, 452013 India

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Sunita Ahlawat

Sunita Ahlawat

Laser Biomedical Applications and Instrumentation Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, 452013 India

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Ravi Shanker Verma

Ravi Shanker Verma

Laser Biomedical Applications and Instrumentation Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, 452013 India

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Pradeep Kumar Gupta

Pradeep Kumar Gupta

Laser Biomedical Applications and Instrumentation Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, 452013 India

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First published: 29 October 2014
Citations: 15

Abstract

The use of optical trap and microbeam for investigating mechanical and transport properties of inter cellular tunneling nanotubes (TnTs) in tumor spheroids has been demonstrated. TnTs in tumor spheroids have been visualized by manipulating TnT connected cells using optical tweezers. Functionality of the TnTs for transferring cytoplasmic vesicles and injected dye molecules by optoporation method has been studied. Further, the TnTs could be longitudinally stretched by manipulating the connected cells and their elastic response was studied.

figure

Manipulation of cells at the surface of tumor spheroid using optical tweezers and injection of fluorescent dye into a trapped cell using optoporation technique.

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