Advances in micropipette aspiration: applications in cell biomechanics, models and extended studies (Biophysical Journal)

With five decades of sustained application, micropipette aspiration has enabled a wide range of biomechanical studies in the field of cell mechanics. Here we provide an update on the use of the technique, with a focus on recent developments in the analysis of the experiments, innovative microaspiration-based approaches and applications in a broad variety of cell types. We first recapitulate experimental variations of the technique. We then discuss analysis models focusing on important limitations of widely-used biomechanical models, which underpin the urge to adopt the appropriate ones to avoid misleading conclusions.