An ultrafast camera for micro-viscoelasticity imaging of single cells

弹性是决定细胞和组织解剖、功能和病理的基本属性。目前测量细胞刚度的方法繁琐、耗时且往往是定性的。我们已经开发了一种替代技术，通过使用驱动器在活细胞中诱导弹性波。这些波以205,000帧/秒的速度被光学观察到，它们在细胞结构内的传播是使用散斑位移信息来确定的。申请人使用受地震学领域启发的弹性图方法（“被动弹性图”算法）绘制了整个细胞的弹性图。使用这种方法，我们在不到1毫秒的时间内测量了整个细胞的弹性分布，数据采集的空间分辨率为几微米。这些测量的稳健性已在多次实验中得到证明。

Elasticity is a fundamental property that determines the anatomy, functionality and pathology of cells and tissues. Current methods to measure cell stiffness are cumbersome, time consuming and often qualitative. We have developed an alternative technique by inducing elastic waves in living cells using an actuator. These waves are observed optically at 205,000 frames / s and their propagation within cell structures is determined using speckle displacement information. Whole cell elasticity has been mapped by the applicant using an elastography method inspired by the seismology field ("passive elastography" algorithm). Using this approach, we have measured whole cell elasticity distributions using less than 1 ms for data acquisition, with a spatial resolution of a few microns. Robustness of these measurements has been demonstrated in repeated experiments.