Issue 23, 2013

Strain propagation in artificial extracellular matrixproteins can accelerate cell spreading and polarization

Abstract

In recent years the ability of cells to sense the mechanical properties of their environments and deform them locally has become increasingly clear. To better understand the mechanical coupling between cells and their surroundings, we have examined the dynamics of adhesion of Chinese hamster ovary cells cultured on engineered protein substrates with different viscoelastic properties. We find that cell spreading and polarization rates vary two- and five-fold, respectively, for crosslinked and uncrosslinked proteins, despite the fact that the rates of growth of individual adhesion complexes on the different substrates are comparable. A wave of adhesion growth along the cell contour is observed by total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy for cells plated on crosslinked materials, but not on uncrosslinked substrates. We propose a mechanism in which cell-induced strains accumulate in crosslinked materials as a result of adhesion growth. Strain propagation within the material explains the observed adhesion growth patterns and the increased rates of spreading and polarization characteristic of cells cultured on crosslinked substrates. We investigate the proposed mechanism through Brownian dynamics simulation.

Graphical abstract: Strain propagation in artificial extracellular matrix proteins can accelerate cell spreading and polarization

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
15 Sep 2012
Accepted
29 Apr 2013
First published
07 May 2013

Soft Matter, 2013,9, 5602-5608

Strain propagation in artificial extracellular matrix proteins can accelerate cell spreading and polarization

S. Tzlil and D. A. Tirrell, Soft Matter, 2013, 9, 5602 DOI: 10.1039/C3SM27137D

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