Adhesion strengths of normal epithelial cells and epithelial mesenchymal transition cells by using single-cell force spectroscopy

The epithelial to mesenchymal transitions (EMT) plays essential roles in many physiological and pathological processes such as embryonic development and cancer progression. Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) as an inducer of EMT that causes complex changes in cell morphology and adhesion properties. The purpose of present study was using atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based single-cell force spectroscopy (SCFS) to study the cell-matrix adhesion properties including the detachment force and contact stiffness. Normal murine mammary gland (NMuMG) cells and NMuMG cells after EMT were used in this study. The cell-substrate contact duration was set at 30 sec, 60 sec and 300 sec, respectively. The morphology of NMuMG cells grew into separately and fibroblast-like shape after 48-hour TGF-al treatment. The mesenchymal cells exhibited stronger overall adhesion properties than the epithelial cells, including cell detachment force and contact stiffness. Furthermore, the mechanical behavior related to epithelial cells and mesenchymal cells could provide better elucidation for the advanced characteristics of EMT and contribute to disease diagnosis and relevant treatment in clinical applications.