Measurement of Jurkat Cell Adhesion Force Using Optical Tweezers

Cell-cell interactions through direct contact play a critical role in cellular communication and coordination. In this paper, the adhesion force between Jurkat cells in contact with one another and in contact with a PDMS surface, respectively, is measured using optical tweezers. The experimental results show that the optical tweezers have a power-normalized force of 0.015 pN/mW. It is shown that laser power of 4.0 mW and 12.0 mW are required to separate two and three mutually-attached Jurkat cells, respectively. Moreover, the separation power increases as the adhesion time between the cells increases.