Complex thermorheology of living cells

Temperature has a reliable and nearly instantaneous influence on mechanical responses of cells. As recently published, MCF-10A normal epithelial breast cells follow the time-temperature superposition (TTS) principle. Here, we measured thermorheological behaviour of eight common cell types within physiologically relevant temperatures and applied TTS to creep compliance curves. Our results showed that superposition is not universal and was seen in four of the eight investigated cell types. For the other cell types, transitions of thermorheological responses were observed at 36 degrees C. Activation energies (EA) were calculated for all cell types and ranged between 50 and 150 kJ mol(-1). The scaling factors of the superposition of creep curves were used to group the cell lines into three categories. They were dependent on relaxation processes as well as structural composition of the cells in response to mechanical load and temperature increase. This study supports the view that temperature is a vital parameter for comparing cell rheological data and should be precisely controlled when designing experiments.