The microRNA-210-Stathmin1 Axis Decreases Cell Stiffness to Facilitate the Invasiveness of Colorectal Cancer Stem Cells.

Cell migration is critical for regional dissemination and distal metastasis of cancer cells, which remain the major causes of poor prognosis and death in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Although cytoskeletal dynamics and cellular deformability contribute to the migration of cancer cells and metastasis, the mechanisms governing the migratory ability of cancer stem cells (CSCs), a nongenetic source of tumor heterogeneity, are unclear. Here, we expanded colorectal CSCs (CRCSCs) as colonospheres and showed that CRCSCs exhibited higher cell motility in transwell migration assays and 3D invasion assays and greater deformability in particle tracking microrheology than did their parental CRC cells.

Use of picosecond infrared laser for micromanipulation of early mammalian embryos.

A high repetition rate (80 MHz) picosecond pulse (approximately 2 psec) infrared laser was used for the inactivation (functional enucleation) of oocytes and two-cell mouse embryos and also for the fusion of blastomeres of two-cell mouse embryos. The laser inactivation of both blastomeres of two-cell mouse embryos by irradiation of nucleoli completely blocked further development of the embryo. The inactivation of one blastomere, however, did not affect the ability of the second intact blastomere to develop into a blastocyst after treatment.