Viscoelastic properties of transformed cells: role in tumor cell progression and metastasis formation.

The micropipette aspiration technique was used to investigate the deformation properties of a panel of nontransformed and transformed rat fibroblasts derived from the same normal cell line. In this method, a step negative pressure is applied to the cell via a micropipette and the aspiration distance into the pipette as a function of time is determined using video techniques. A standard solid viscoelastic model was then used to analyze the viscoelastic properties of the cell. From these results, it is concluded that a direct correlation exists between an increase in deformability and progression of the transformed phenotype from a nontumorigenic cell line into a tumorigenic, metastatic cell line.