Simultaneous observation of calcium signaling response and membrane deformation due to localized mechanical stimulus in single osteoblast-like cells.

Biochemical signals related to a mechanosensory mechanism by which cells sense mechanical stimuli have been gradually clarified by biological approaches such as blocking specific signaling pathways; however, mechanical signals such as deformation/strain, which is transduced into biochemical signals through this mechanism, particularly at the cellular structural component level in a single cell, have not yet been clearly understood. This in vitro study focuses on an intracellular calcium signaling response to an applied localized deformation in a single osteoblast-like MC3T3-E1 cell, and observed localized deformation of a cell membrane and the calcium ion flux from an extracellular medium. The localized deformation was applied to a cell by indenting a microsphere onto the cell membrane using a glass microneedle.