Microscopic image of muscle-like structures in a non-muscle cell. They can be specifically targeted using optogenetic methods.
Not only muscle cells, but also all other cell types continually generate forces in the human body. An interdisciplinary cooperation of biologists and physicists including Heidelberg researcher Ulrich Schwarz now succeeded in performing high-resolution measurements of cell forces using light to switch them on and off in a controlled manner. The scientists from the universities of Heidelberg and Chicago (USA) used optogenetics and mathematical modelling to identify a central molecule in cellular mechanics. The results of this research were published in the journal â?'Nature Communicationsâ''. Muscle cells, which contract in response to an external signal, are needed to pump blood through the body or to move body parts. Yet also all other cell types in our body continually generate forces, aided by muscle-like structures present in every human cell. Cells use these forces to sense mechanical changes in their environment, which plays an important role for example in wound healing.
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