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. 2012 Oct 15;7(10):e45843. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0045843

Figure 1. Single particle tracking analysis of particles in the nucleus.

Figure 1

(a) Schematic of the experimental setup. An electromagnet mounted on a fluorescence microscope is used to apply forces on a Inline graphicm paramagnetic bead microinjected into the nucleus. (Inset) Brightfield image of the nucleus showing microinjected magnetic beads. The dotted line represents the edge of the nucleus. Scale bar Inline graphicm. (b) Typical trajectory of a bead in the nucleus of a living cell at Inline graphicC showing caging behaviour. (Inset) Histogram of cage sizes Inline graphic across Inline graphic beads shows a narrow distribution about Inline graphic nm. (c & d) Mean square displacement versus time for beads in the nuclei of untreated cells in the absence of force. Inline graphic beads show Type I behaviour and Inline graphic beads show Type II. (e) Mean effective exponent Inline graphic versus inverse time for Type I and II trajectories together with the combined data. (f) Shear and loss modulus, Inline graphic, Inline graphic (averaged over all beads) as a function of frequency Inline graphic. At low Inline graphic, the response of the nucleus is elastic (Inline graphic) and crosses over to a viscous response at higher Inline graphic. Fits at low Inline graphic show that the nucleus behaves as a power-law solid at low frequencies.