Name: stiffness measurement of soft silicone substrates for mechanobiology studies using a widefield fluorescence microscope
Uploaded: 2018-07-03T14:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Stiffness Measurement of Soft Silicone Substrates for Mechanobiology Studies Using a Widefield Fluorescence Microscope at JoVE.com

We thank Margaret Gardel for generously allowing the use of the rheometer. We acknowledge support from the NIH (1R15GM116082) that enabled this work.

1. Fabrication of Soft Silicone Substrate
<ol>
	<li>Weigh out 1.75 g of the A component and 1.75 g of the B component (A:B = 1:1) from the soft silicone elastomer kit using (polystyrene) weighing trays.</li>
	<li>Add the A component to the B component in the weighing tray and mix them together for 5 min using an appropriate applicator stick.</li>
	<li>Add the above mixture to a 35 mm Petri dish. Allow the mixture to spread evenly across the Petri dish for a couple of minutes. 
	Note: The choice of the Petri dish d...

<ol>
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While the sphere indentation method is easy to implement, careful attention must be paid to the choice of indentor and the thickness of the soft silicone sample. The equation used to calculate the Young&#39;s modulus is valid under a set of conditions11and these are typically satisfied when the thickness of the silicone sample is &#62; 10% of the indentor radius and &#60; ~13x the indentor radius. We found that a silicone thickness of 5 - 10x the indentor radius was a good choice, wherein the samp...

Cells in soft tissues reside in a micro-environment whose stiffness is in the kilopascal range1, in contrast to tissue culture dishes whose stiffness is several orders of magnitude higher. Early experiments with cells on extracellular matrix protein-coated soft substrates showed that the substrate stiffness influences how cells move on as well as adhere to the extracellular matrix beneath2,3. In fact, the substrate stiffness fundamentally influences the cell function4&#160;in a manner similar to pervasive biochemical signals. Polyacrylamide gels (coated with extracellular matrix proteins) are (water-permeating) hydrogels that have been extensively used as cell culture substrates for mechanobiology studies5. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), the most common silicone (polysiloxane), has been widely used as a stiff silicone with megapascal-range stiffness for micron-scale fabrication6. More recently, soft silicone substrates with stiffness in the more physiologically relevant kilopascal range have been employed as cell culture substrates for mechanobiology studies7,8.
Several methods have been used to measure the stiffness of flexible substrates, including atomic force microscopy, macroscopic deformation of whole samples upon stretching, rheology, and indentation using spheres and spherically tipped microindentors9. While each technique has its own advantages and disadvantages, indentation with a sphere is an especially simple yet fairly accurate method that only requires the access to a widefield fluorescence microscope. Indentation with a metallic sphere has been used to measure the stiffness of hydrogels in prior work3,9,10. Early work that demonstrated the importance of substrate stiffness to cell movement utilized this method to determine hydrogel substrate stiffness3. More recently, confocal microscopy has also been used for an elegant characterization10.
Here, we present a step-by-step protocol for preparing a soft silicone substrate, coupling fluorescent beads (and an extracellular matrix protein such as collagen I) just to the top surface, imaging an indenting sphere and the top surface using phase and fluorescence imaging, respectively, and finally analyzing the images to compute the Young&#39;s modulus of the silicone substrate. The soft silicone substrate prepared in this manner can be readily used for traction force microscopy experiments. The use of stiff silicone (instead of a Petri dish) as the base for the soft silicone also enables mechanobiology studies using an external stretch. Where warranted, practical considerations necessary for avoiding possible complications are also indicated.

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="949">
	<tbody>
		<tr height="22">
			<td height="22" style="height:22px;width:353px;">CY 52-276 A/B silicone elastomer kit</td>
			<td style="width:191px;">&#160;Dow Corning</td>
			<td style="width:144px;">CY 52-276</td>
			<td style="width:263px;">Store at room temperature</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Thermo Scientific Pierce EDC</td>
			<td style="width:191px;">Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>PI22980</td>
			<td>Store at -20&#176;C</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Thermo Scientific&#160;Pierce Sulfo-NHS crosslinker</td>
			<td style="width:191px;">Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>PI-24510</td>
			<td>Store at 4&#176;C</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Carboxyl fluorescent pink particles, 0.4-0.6 &#181;m, 2 mL</td>
			<td>Spherotech, Inc.</td>
			<td>CFP-0558-2</td>
			<td>Store at 4&#176;C, do not freeze</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">1.0 mm Acid washed Zirconium beads</td>
			<td style="width:191px;">OPS Diagnostics LLC</td>
			<td>BAWZ 1000-250-33</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="22">
			<td height="22" style="height:22px;width:353px;">Deep UV chamber with ozone evacuator</td>
			<td style="width:191px;">Novascan Technologies, Inc.</td>
			<td style="width:144px;">PSD-UV4, OES-1000D</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:353px;">Wide field fluorescence microscope</td>
			<td style="width:191px;">Leica Microsystems</td>
			<td style="width:144px;">DMi8</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:353px;">Collagen I, from rat tail</td>
			<td style="width:191px;">Corning</td>
			<td style="width:144px;">354236</td>
			<td>Stock concentration = 4 mg/ml; store at 4&#176;C</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:353px;">ImageJ-NIH</td>
			<td style="width:191px;">N/A</td>
			<td style="width:144px;">N/A</td>
			<td>public-domain software</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

stiffness measurement of soft silicone substrates for mechanobiology studies using a widefield fluorescence microscope

Soft tissues in the human body typically have stiffness in the kilopascal (kPa) range. Accordingly, silicone and hydrogel flexible substrates have been proven to be useful substrates for culturing cells in a physical microenvironment that partially mimics in vivo conditions. Here, we present a simple protocol for characterizing the Young's moduli of isotropic linear elastic substrates typically used for mechanobiology studies. The protocol consists of preparing a soft silicone substrate on a Petri dish or stiff silicone, coating the top surface of the silicone substrate with fluorescent beads, using a millimeter-scale sphere to indent the top surface (by gravity), imaging the fluorescent beads on the indented silicone surface using a fluorescence microscope, and analyzing the resultant images to calculate the Young's modulus of the silicone substrate. Coupling the substrate's top surface with a moduli extracellular matrix protein (in addition to the fluorescent beads) allows the silicone substrate to be readily used for cell plating and subsequent studies using traction force microscopy experiments. The use of stiff silicone, instead of a Petri dish, as the base of the soft silicone, enables the use of mechanobiology studies involving external stretch. A specific advantage of this protocol is that a widefield fluorescence microscope, which is commonly available in many labs, is the major equipment necessary for this procedure. We demonstrate this protocol by measuring the Young's modulus of soft silicone substrates of different elastic moduli.

Using the protocol detailed above, we prepared soft silicone in a 35 mm Petri dish, cured it at 70 &#176;C for 30 min and coupled fluorescent microbeads (and collagen I) to the top surface as schematically depicted in Figure 1. Deep UV has been used previously for the eventual protein coupling to substrates13. Note that (I) the curing conditions used here are specific to this soft silicone and (II) the indentation measurement is pe...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Stiffness Measurement of Soft Silicone Substrates for Mechanobiology Studies Using a Widefield Fluorescence Microscope at JoVE.com

Stiffness Measurement of Soft Silicone Substrates for Mechanobiology Studies Using a Widefield Fluorescence Microscope

Substrates with stiffness in the kilopascal-range are useful to study the response of cells to physiologically relevant micro-environment stiffness. Using just a widefield fluorescence microscope, the Young's modulus of soft silicone gels can be determined using an indentation with a suitable sphere.

Soft tissues in the human body typically have stiffness in the kilopascal (kPa) range. Accordingly, silicone and hydrogel flexible substrates have been ...

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