Micropipette suction apparatus

The micropipette suction technique enables to apply aspiration pressures to soft objects suspended in a liquid, through a glass capillary connected to a mechanically height-driven water bath. Pressures in the range 1E-6 to 1E-2 bar are accessible. Typical studied objects are phospholipid vesicles or cells. Image analysis of the aspiration-induced deformations lead to the evaluation of the stress-strain relation, and thus to mechanical properties of the soft objects.