Mechanotransduction in hippocampal neurons operates under localized low picoNewton forces

Fabio Falleroni; Ulisse Bocchero; Simone Mortal; Yunzhen Li; Zhongjie Ye; Dan Cojoc; Vincent Torre

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.103807

Mechanotransduction in hippocampal neurons operates under localized low picoNewton forces

iScience. 2022 Jan 25;25(2):103807. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.103807. eCollection 2022 Feb 18.

Authors

Fabio Falleroni^{1

2}, Ulisse Bocchero^{3

2}, Simone Mortal², Yunzhen Li², Zhongjie Ye², Dan Cojoc⁴, Vincent Torre^{2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Technische Universitat Munchen Fakultat fur Physik (TUM), 85748 Garching, Germany.
² Neuroscience Area, International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), 34136 Trieste, Italy.
³ National Eye Institute (NEI), Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
⁴ Institute of Materials (IOM-CNR), Area Science Park, Basovizza, 34149 Trieste, Italy.

Abstract

There is growing evidence suggesting that mechanical properties of CNS neurons may play an important regulatory role in cellular processes. Here, we employ an oscillatory optical tweezers (OOT) to exert a local indentation with forces in the range of 5-50 pN. We found that single local indentation above a threshold of 13 ± 1 pN evokes a transient intracellular calcium change, whereas repeated mechanical stimulations induce a more sustained and variable calcium response. Importantly, neurons were able to differentiate the magnitude of mechanical stimuli. Chemical perturbation and whole-cell patch clamp recordings suggest that mechanically evoked response requires the influx of extracellular calcium through transmembrane ion channels. Moreover, we observed a mechanically evoked activation of the CAMKII and small G protein RhoA. These results all together suggest that mechanical signaling among developed neurons fully operates in neuronal networks under physiological conditions.

Keywords: Biological sciences; Cellular neuroscience; Mechanobiology; Neuroscience.