The role of cytoskeletons in mechanical structure of vascular endothelial cells

摘要

Despite considerable research on the intracellular force balance in the project plane that stabilizes the cell architecture, there are only few quantitative considerations on that in the vertical plane. Here, we investigated the determinant of the vertical cell morphology. The effect of cytoskeleton-affecting agents on the endothelial cell height, as a measure of the vertical force balance, was examined using AFM. The results demonstrated that enhancement of actomyosin contraction as well as disruption of microtubules lowered the cell height. In addition, time-lapse microscopy showed that intracellular vesicles moved radically outward after microtubule disruption, together with enlargement of the projected nuclear area that is probably associated with the decrease in the cell height. These results, together with a finite element analytical study, indicated that the nucleus plays a structural role, with the help of surrounding microtubules, in counteracting actomyosin tension in adherent cell.