pyTFM: A tool for traction force and monolayer stress microscopy

Bauer A, Prechová M, Fischer L, Thievessen I, Gregor M, Fabry B (2021)

Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

PLoS Computational Biology Public Library of Science

Book Volume: 17

Article Number: e1008364

Journal Issue: 6

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008364

Abstract

Cellular force generation and force transmission are of fundamental importance for numerous biological processes and can be studied with the methods of Traction Force Microscopy (TFM) and Monolayer Stress Microscopy. Traction Force Microscopy and Monolayer Stress Microscopy solve the inverse problem of reconstructing cell-matrix tractions and inter- and intra-cellular stresses from the measured cell force-induced deformations of an adhesive substrate with known elasticity. Although several laboratories have developed software for Traction Force Microscopy and Monolayer Stress Microscopy computations, there is currently no software package available that allows non-expert users to perform a full evaluation of such experiments. Here we present pyTFM, a tool to perform Traction Force Microscopy and Monolayer Stress Microscopy on cell patches and cell layers grown in a 2-dimensional environment. pyTFM was optimized for ease-of-use; it is open-source and well documented (hosted at https://pytfm.readthedocs.io/) including usage examples and explanations of the theoretical background. pyTFM can be used as a standalone Python package or as an add-on to the image annotation tool ClickPoints. In combination with the ClickPoints environment, pyTFM allows the user to set all necessary analysis parameters, select regions of interest, examine the input data and intermediary results, and calculate a wide range of parameters describing forces, stresses, and their distribution. In this work, we also thoroughly analyze the accuracy and performance of the Traction Force Microscopy and Monolayer Stress Microscopy algorithms of pyTFM using synthetic and experimental data from epithelial cell patches.

Authors with CRIS profile

Lena Fischer Lehrstuhl für Biophysik Ingo Thievessen Lehrstuhl für Biophysik Ben Fabry Lehrstuhl für Biophysik

Involved external institutions

Institute of Molecular Genetics of the ASCR / Ústav molekulární genetiky AV ČR CZ Czech Republic (CZ)

How to cite

APA:

Bauer, A., Prechová, M., Fischer, L., Thievessen, I., Gregor, M., & Fabry, B. (2021). pyTFM: A tool for traction force and monolayer stress microscopy. PLoS Computational Biology, 17(6). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008364

MLA:

Bauer, Andreas, et al. "pyTFM: A tool for traction force and monolayer stress microscopy." PLoS Computational Biology 17.6 (2021).

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