Brillouin microscopy analysis of the fibroblast mechanical response to substrate’s stiffness

Abstract

Cancer mechano-adaptation remains poorly understood due to the lack of imaging technologies capable of quantifying both mechanical and biochemical properties of cells and their microenvironment in 3D culture and in vivo. This challenge arises primarily due to the invasiveness of existing mechanical measurement techniques and their inability to assess mechanical properties in highly heterogeneous structures such as living tissues. Brillouin microscopy is an emerging, label-free technique that enables measurements of local mechanical properties with microscopic spatial resolution. In this study, we non-invasively imaged the elastic properties of monolayer 4T1 murine fibroblast cells using Brillouin microscopy and analyzed their response to variations in the mechanical properties of the external environment. Our findings demonstrate a significant correlation between the mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix and cancer cells, as assessed through Brillouin microspectroscopy in a non-invasive and safe manner. These results highlight the potential of Brillouin spectroscopy as a robust and effective technique for the characterization of biomechanical properties in cancer cells, offering valuable insights into their mechanical behavior.