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Thromb Haemost 2015; 113(02): 305-311
DOI: 10.1160/TH14-05-0414
Cellular Haemostasis and Platelets
Schattauer GmbH

Imaging the elastic modulus of human platelets during thrombininduced activation using scanning ion conductance microscopy

Johannes Rheinlaender   †
1   Institute of Applied Physics, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Germany
,
Sebastian Vogel   †
2   Department of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Diseases, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Germany
,
Jan Seifert
1   Institute of Applied Physics, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Germany
,
Marc Schächtele
1   Institute of Applied Physics, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Germany
,
Oliver Borst
2   Department of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Diseases, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Germany
,
Florian Lang
3   Department of Physiology, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Germany
,
Meinrad Gawaz   ‡
2   Department of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Diseases, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Germany
,
Tilman E. Schäffer   ‡
1   Institute of Applied Physics, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Germany
› Author Affiliations Financial support: This work was partially supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Klinische Forschungsgruppe KFO-274: “Platelets – Molecular Mechanisms and Translational Implications”).
Further Information

Publication History

Received: 08 May 2014

Accepted after major revision: 28 September 2014

Publication Date:
29 November 2017 (online)

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Summary

Platelet activation plays a critical role in haemostasis and thrombosis. It is well-known that platelets generate contractile forces during activation. However, their mechanical material properties have rarely been investigated. Here, we use scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM) to visualise morphological and mechanical properties of live human platelets at high spatial resolution. We found that their mean elastic modulus decreases during thrombin-induced activation by about a factor of two. We observed a similar softening of platelets during cytochalasin D-induced cytoskeleton depolymerisation. However, thrombin-induced temporal and spatial modulations of the elastic modulus were substantially different from cytochalasin D-mediated changes. We thereby provide new insights into the mechanics of haemostasis and establish SICM as a novel imaging platform for the ex vivo investigation of the mechanical properties of live platelets.

Keywords

Thrombin, stiffness - scanning ion conductance microscopy - SICM - cytochalasin D

† Contributed equally and thus share first authorship.


‡ Contributed equally and thus share senior authorship.


 

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