A low-cost, user-friendly rheo-optical compression assay to measure mechanical properties of cell spheroids in standard cell culture plates

Abstract: The mechanical characterization of cell spheroids, one of the most widely used 3D biology models in vitro, is a hotspot of current research on the role played by the mechanical response of cells and tissues. The techniques proposed so far in the literature, while providing important scientific insights, require a specialized equipment and technical skills which are not usually available in cell biology facilities. Here, we present an innovative rheo-optical compression assay based on microscopy glass coverslips as the load applied to cell spheroids in standard cell culture plates and on image acquisition with an optical microscope or even a smartphone equipped with adequate magnification lenses. Mechanical properties can be simply obtained by correlating the applied load to the deformation of cell spheroids measured by image analysis. The low-cost, user-friendly features of the proposed technique can boost mechanobiology research making it easily affordable to any biomedical lab equipped with cell culture facilities.