GENEVA, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- For the first time the weight of a single living cell can be measured, thanks to an innovative scale developed by Swiss researchers that not only weighs cells, but also records any changes of weight, according to a press release by Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) on Friday.
A team of scientists from ETH Zurich, University of Basel and University College London have developed a novel cell scale that not only enables them to measure the mass of living cells within a very short time, but also to monitor how their weight changes over time. They can do so with a resolution of milliseconds and trillionths of a gram.
The cells, which usually weigh about two to three nanograms, are weighed under controlled conditions in a cell culture chamber. The weighing arm, a tiny wafer-thin, transparent silicon cantilever coated with collagen or fibronectin, is lowered to the floor of the chamber, where it nudges and picks up a cell.
The team found out that the weight of living cells fluctuates continuously by about one to four percent as they regulate their total weight, and that cells only stop these second-by-second fluctuations upon dying.
The study, which has been published in the journal Nature, has aroused high interest among biologists as well as in the medical and pharmaceutical sectors, as it could be used to investigate the pathological growth of cells and the influence of drugs on this growth. It has even caught the attention of material scientists who are interested in changing the surface of very small particles.
