Revealing physical properties of gastric adenocarcinoma cells with two distinct morphologies linking to preferential cellular migration and proliferation.

Mechanobiology has played significant roles in guiding and regulating cellular activities, such as morphogenesis, organogenesis, wound healing. Inter-/intracellular force or stiffness as an engine induced cell to reshape their morphologies leading to distinct cell functionalization. Therefore, biophysical changes (roughness, stiffness) of cell membrane are highly correlated to the varies in cell morphologies, specifically shape. While studying on the relationship among cell shapes, cell life activities and cell mechanics from both biophysical and biological point of view remains poorly understood. Here, time-lapse optical microscope (OM) and high-speed scanning ion conductance microscope (HS-SICM) are utilized to bridge the biological features (cell migration and proliferation velocity) and biophysical properties of gastric adenocarcinoma cells with elongated and round shapes. OM results showed a correlation between cell morphologies and cell behaviors, with round cells predominantly proliferating and elongated cells favoring migration. On the other hand, SICM provided quantitative, non-labelled measurements of biological properties including surface roughness, volume change rate, and elastic modulus from nanoscale to microscale. The results revealed that round cells exhibited higher stiffness and surface roughness compared to elongated cells. These findings revealed an association between biophysical properties and cell behavior, with stiffer cells more frequently observed in proliferative states and softer cells associated with migratory states. Overall, this work provides insights into the associations between mechanobiological cues (surface structures, roughness, stiffness) and cellular functions, which are further linked to different cell shapes. It also provides a different scope by linking real-time biophysical properties to biological behaviors in dynamics, offering a fundamental understanding of complex cellular processes.