A viscoelastic model of phagosome motion within cells based on cytomagnetometric measurements

Abstract

Cytomagnetometry is a noninvasive method to investigate intracellular movements of organelles such as phagosomes by introducing magnetic particles into cells by phagocytosis, magnetizing them and measuring the field from the cells. To analyze the results of the cellfield measurement, we introduce a model for intracellular phagosome motion and investigate their behavior in terms of the cell field. The model includes an elastic body and two viscosity components which are ascribed to the filamentous structures surrounding the phagosomes. The magnetic relaxation phenomenon is assumed to derive from the rotationary Brownian motion as in our previous model. Although the model is simple, its behavior is not trivial because it contains a nonlinear term and the Brownian motion term. This model is the simplest one possible having a viscoelastic body and its behavior hence should be investigated thoroughly. © 2000 IEEE.