Figure 4.

Measurement of the apparent Young’s modulus of primary CD4⁺ T cells and Jurkat T cells. (A) A cell was caught and squeezed between the plates by applying a displacement d on the rigid plate. The displacement of the flexible plate δ was optically measured and the length before and after compression was measured to derive the apparent static Young modulus E_app. (B) For primary CD4⁺ T cells, the data points (+) of the apparent Young’s modulus followed a log-normal distribution whose mean E_app (mean = 85 ± 5 Pa, solid line) matches the equivalent Young’s modulus E_eq (mean = 90 ± 10 Pa, dashed line) of Jurkat cells obtained through calculation. (C) Comparison of stepwise compression experiments (E_app data points in dark circles, mean = 70 +30/−20 Pa in dashed line) and dynamic mechanical analysis ($G_0^{\prime }$ data points in white circles, mean = 80 +70/−40 Pa in solid line) for Jurkat cells.