Figure 1.

Experimental techniques used to probe cell mechanics in various spatial scales. (a) Mechanical testing machine used to study the response of tissue samples in compression and tension tests. (b) The recent technique developed for investigating the mechanical response of cell layers to uniaxial stretch and compression. (c) In cell pair studies, mechanical stimulus is applied through various methods such as a single cell adhered to a tipless atomic force microscopy (AFM) cantilever in single-cell force spectroscopy (SCFS), two micropipettes in dual pipette aspiration (DPA) and a microstructure fabricated using two-photon polymerization technique in single-cell adhesion micro tensile tester (SCA $\mu$ TT). (d) Microplate assay is a commonly used method to monitor the force generated by individual cells when exposed to variations in substrate stiffness. Other techniques, such as micropipette aspiration, AFM and optical and magnetic tweezers, involve applying controlled displacement as the mechanical stimulus and monitoring the forces within cells or investigating changes in displacement in response to controlled forces.