Mechanical properties of cells and extracellular matrix play important roles in the regulation of various biological processes such as gene expression, adhesion, and migration of cells. However, it is challenging to map three-dimensional (3D) elasticity on the micro-scale using existing techniques. We propose subcellular mechano-microscopy, a variant of compression-based optical coherence elastography, for 3D elastography of cell spheroids with isotropic elasticity resolution of 10 µm, over large fields of view covering multiple spheroids. We use the proposed technique to scan multicellular non-metastatic breast cancer cell spheroids embedded in gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogels and co-register the micro-elastograms with fluorescence microscopy images.
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