Figure 2
From: Modeling cellular deformations using the level set formalism
Viscoelastic model of cell. A. Representation of the viscoelastic model of the cell. x c and x m denote the location of the cell cytoplasm and membrane, respectively; τ c and k c define the mechanical model of the cell cortex; τ a includes the viscous deformation of the cytoplasm as well as other components including adhesion. B. To validate our model and determine model parameters, we utilized micropipette aspiration technique. Relevant parameters include the radius of the micropipette (R p ), the radius of the cell (R c ), and the length of protrusion into the micropipette (L p ). C. Example of a Dictyostelium cell being aspirated into the micropipette at 0.65 nN/μ m2. Time stamps are in seconds, scale bar shows 10 μ m. D. Protrusion into the pipette was measured and was accounted for by the model. Different colored circles represent data from 22 individual experiments. Solid line represents the deformation defined by Eqn. 6 with parameters k c = 0.098 nN/μ m3, τ c = 0.064 nNs/μ m3 and τ a = 6.09 nNs/μ m3.