Analyzing the structure of a single cell based on its refractive index (RI) distribution is a common and valued approach, because it does not require any artificial markers. The RI is an inherent structural marker that can be quantified in three dimensions with optical diffraction tomography (ODT), an inverse scattering technique. This work reviews the theory of ODT and its implementation with an emphasis on single-cell analysis, identifying the Rytov approximation as the most efficient descriptor for light propagation. The accuracy of the reconstruction method is verified with in silico data and imaging artifacts associated with the inverse scattering approach are addressed. Furthermore, an experimental ODT setup is presented that consists of a bright-field microscope, a phase-imaging camera, and an optical trap combined with a microfluidic chip. A novel image analysis pipeline is proposed that addresses image corrections and frame alignment of the recorded data prior to the RI reconstruction. In addition, for a rotational axis that is tilted with respect to the image plane, an improved reconstruction algorithm is introduced and applied to single, suspended cells in vitro, achieving sub-cellular resolution.

All cells are delimited by membranes that protect the cell from the surrounding environment. In eukaryotic cells the same principle applies at subcellular level where membranes delimit functional cell organelles. The membrane structure, properties and function are defined in part by their lipid composition. Lipidomics is the large‐scale study of pathways and networks of cellular lipids in biological systems. It involves the identification and quantitation of cellular lipid molecular species and their interactions with other lipids, proteins, and other metabolites. Lipidomics has been greatly facilitated by recent advances in ionization technology and mass spectrometric capabilities which have simplified the sample processing prior to analysis, giving rise to shotgun lipidomics. Shotgun lipidomics is fast, highly sensitive, and can identify hundreds of lipids missed by other methods. However, Glycosphingolipids are an important lipid family that was out of the scope of shotgun lipidomics due to the lack of suitable analytical tools. The aim of my thesis was two‐fold. The first aim was the establishment of Glycosphingolipid identification and quantification by shotgun approach. This allowed us to perform lipidomic studies with unprecedented comprehensiveness (~300 lipid species from 15 different lipid classes) from low sample amounts and with minimal sample processing. The second was the application of this technology in studies of the role of lipids in several processes like vesicular carrier formation, cell polarization, protein delivery to the plasma membrane and viral budding. This work resulted in several findings. We found that there is sorting of sphingolipids and sterols into plasma membrane targeted vesicular carriers in budding yeast. When kidney cells change from a mesenchymal to an epithelial morphology there is a profound remodeling of their lipidome, with the synthesis of longer, more saturated, more hydroxylated, and more glycosylated sphingolipids. When these sphingolipids and sterols are depleted in epithelial cells, the apical transport in epithelial cells is impaired. These data strongly support the idea that lipid rafts play an important role in sorting and delivery of lipid and protein cargo to the plasma membrane. Finally, we found that the envelopes of vesicular stomatitis virus and Semliki forest virus assert little specificity in the incorporation of lipids from the plasma membrane. This weak specificity seems to be related to a combination of virus lipid bilayer asymmetry and curvature.

During mitosis, adherent animal cells undergo a drastic shape change, from essentially flat to round, in a process known as mitotic cell rounding (MCR). The aim of this thesis was to critically examine the physical and biological basis of MCR. The experimental part of this thesis employed a combined optical microscope-atomic force microscope (AFM) setup in conjunction with flat tipless cantilevers to analyze cell mechanics, shape and volume. To this end, two AFM assays were developed: the constant force assay (CFA), which applies constant force to cells and measures the resultant height, and the constant height assay (CHA), which confines cell height and measures the resultant force. These assays were deployed to analyze the shape and mechanical properties of single cells trans-mitosis. The CFA results showed that cells progressing through mitosis could increase their height against forces as high as 50 nN, and that higher forces can delay mitosis in HeLa cells. The CHA results showed that mitotic cells confined to ~50% of their normal height can generate forces around 50-100 nN without disturbing mitotic progression. Such forces represent intracellular pressures of at least 200 Pascals and cell surface tensions of around 10 nN/µm. Using the CHA to compare mitotic cell rounding with induced cell rounding, it was observed that the intracellular pressure of mitotic cells is at least 3-fold higher than rounded interphase cells. To investigate the molecular basis of the mechanical changes inherent in mitotic cell rounding, inhibitors and toxins were used to pharmacologically dissect the role of candidate cellular processes. These results implicated the actomyosin cortex and osmolyte transporters, the most prominent of which is the Na+/H+ exchanger, in the maintenance of mechanical properties and intracellular hydrostatic pressure. Observations on blebbing cells under the cantilever supported the idea that the actomyosin cortex is required to sustain hydrostatic pressure and direct this pressure into cell shape changes. To gain further insight into the relationship between actomyosin activity and intracellular pressure, dynamic perturbation experiments were conducted. To this end, the CHA was used to evaluate the pressure and volume of mitotic cells before, during and after dynamic perturbations that included tonic shocks, influx of specific inhibitors, and exposure to pore-forming toxins. When osmotic pressure gradients were depleted, pressure and volume decreased. When the actomyosin cytoskeleton was abolished, cell volume increased while rounding pressure decreased. Conversely, stimulation of actomyosin cortex contraction triggered an increase in rounding pressure and a decrease in volume. Taken together, the dynamic perturbation results demonstrated that the actomyosin cortex contracts against an opposing intracellular pressure and that this relationship sets the surface tension, pressure and volume of the cell. The discussion section of this thesis provides a comprehensive overview of the physical basis of MCR by amalgamating the experimental results of this thesis with the literature. Additionally, the biochemal signaling pathways and proteins that drive MCR are collated and discussed. An exhaustive and unprecedented synthesis of the literature on cell rounding (approx. 750 papers as pubmed search hits on “cell rounding”, April 2012) reveals that the spread-to-round transition can be thought of in terms of a surface tension versus adhesion paradigm, and that cell rounding can be physically classified into four main modes, of which one is an MCR-like category characterized by increased actomyosin cortex tension and diminution of focal adhesions. The biochemical pathways and signaling patterns that correspond with these four rounding modes are catalogued and expounded upon in the context of the relevant physiology. This analysis reveals cell rounding as a pertinent topic that can be leveraged to yield insight into core principles of cell biophysics and tissue organization. It furthermore highlights MCR as a model problem to understand the adhesion versus cell surface tension paradigm in cells and its fundamentality to cell shape, mechanics and physiology.