Fig. 8.

Multi-day Rheology of a Living Composite of Human Breast Cancer Cells Encapsulated in Collagen I. MDA-MB-231 cells encapsulated in a collagen I extracellular matrix were observed over seven days. DLSμR of the composite cell-collagen material was performed using embedded polystyrene microspheres, and the rheology was found to change over the course of the week. Upon disruption of intracellular cytoskeleton polymers using latrunculin A, the modulus of the composite material further decreased, indicating that the living cells directly influence rheological behavior. Opaque regions indicate one standard deviation from the mean, n = 3.