Optical stretcher is a tool in which two counter-propagating, slightly diverging, and identical laserbeams are used to trap and axially stretch microparticles in the path of light. In this work, weutilized the dual-beam optical stretcher setup to trap and stretch human embryonic kidney(HEK) cells and mammalian breast cancer (MBC) cells. Experiments were performed byexposing the HEK cells to counter-propagating laser beams for 30 seconds at powers rangingfrom 100 mW to 561 mW. It was observed that the percentage of cell deformation increasedfrom 16.7% at 100 mW to 40.5% at 561 mW optical power. The MBC cells exhibited significantlyhigher cell stretching compared to HEK cells at the same power (80 mW). Moreover, theminimum trapping power in HEK cells was 80.5mW as compared to 65.2mW in MBC cells. Thisstudy provides useful insights into the characterization of cytoskeletal elasticity in different celltypes based on non-contact optical cell stretching.
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