Morphological and nanoscissor laser ablation analyses of mitotic cells. (A ) Quantification of the circularity (4π × area/perimeter²) of MDCK cells in interphase and following entry into mitosis (n = 55). Quantified data were pooled from three independent experiments. ****, P < 0.0001; Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test. (B) Quantification of relative recoil of cell–cell contacts neighboring interphase (dark blue; n = 24) or mitotic (blue; n = 22) cells after laser cutting, defined as the relative increase in distance between vertices (length/initial length). Dots represent the mean recoil distance with SD, with lines showing the best-fit single exponential curve. Data were pooled from two independent experiments. (C) Top: Representative still images of a mitotic MDCK cell expressing E-cadherin–DsRed and H2B-mNeongreen after laser ablation of the mitotic cortex (illustrated by orange scissors). Bottom: Visualization of the changes in cell shape (gray) compared with the preablated mitotic cell (black dotted line). Scale bar, 10 µm. E-cad, E-cadherin.