adhesion strength (Cell-Ecm & Cell-cell)

Magnetic tweezers can be used to study cell adhesion strength. For this, magnetic beads are coated with an ECM molecule (for cell – ECM adhesion) or an antibody against a cell adhesion molecule (for cell – cell adhesion). These magnetic beads are bound to the cell surface via integrin (for cell – ECM adhesion) or through other cell adhesion molecules (such as E-cadherin for cell – cell adhesion). A controlled force is applied to the bead, followed by the quantification of the percentage of beads that remain attached to the cell under study.