Temperature induced variations in cell volume and elastic modulus for neuronal cells

We perform combined atomic force microscopy (AFM) and fluorescence microscopy experiments to investigate the relationship between external temperature, soma volume and elastic modulus for cortical neurons. We measure how changes in ambient temperature affect the volume and the mechanical properties of neuronal cells. The experiments demonstrate that both the volume and the elastic modulus of the neuron soma vary with changes in temperature. Our results show a decrease by a factor of 2 in the soma elastic modulus as the ambient temperature increases from room (25C) to physiological (37C) temperature, while the volume of the soma increases by a factor of 1.3 during the same temperature sweep. Using high resolution AFM force mapping we measure the temperature - induced variations within different regions of the elasticity maps (low and high values of elastic modulus), and correlate these variations with the dynamics of the cytoskeleton. We quantify the change in soma volume with temperature and propose a simple theoretical model that relates this change with variations in elastic modulus. These results have significant implications for understanding neuron functions, as ambient temperature and physiological conditions could change during neuronal development.