Interferometric Investigation of Cell Stiffness and Morphology on Oxidative Stress- Induced Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVEC)

Cell stiffness that can be measured accordingly elasticity modulus is an important biomechanical feature that plays a one-to-one role on the basic features of the cell, such as migration and proliferation, and this feature is significantly affected by the characteristic of the cytoskeleton. Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) are side-products formed as a result of the cell's general metabolic activities. Cells have a very effective antioxidant defense to deactivate the toxic effect of ROS however, oxidative stress at abnormal levels significantly damages cellular balance. Many conditions such as inflammation, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases and aging are associated with oxidative stress. Besides, oxidative stress is one of the parameters that affect the biomechanical behavior of the cell, but the mechanism of this effect still remains a mystery. In this study, oxidative stress was mimicked on Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial (HUVEC) cells by using H
₂
O
₂
and the effect of this situation on cell stiffness and morphological structure was investigated interferometrically for the first time. The changes that occurred in the cell stiffness were determined by calculating the elasticity modules of the cells. Cells were exposed to H
₂
O
₂
for 24 hours at 0.5 mM and 1 mM concentrations, and as a result, cell stiffness was shown to decrease due to increased H
₂
O
₂
concentration.