Probing Cellular Mechanoadaptation Using Cell-Substrate De-Adhesion Dynamics: Experiments and Model
Figure 3
Trypsin induced de-adhesion of NIH 3T3 fibroblasts.
NIH 3T3 fibroblasts were cultured on polyacrylamide hydrogels of stiffness 1.5, 2.5 and 40 kPa for 24 hours and then de-adhesion experiments were performed. (a) Upon treatment of trypsin, cells started rounding up. Sequence of time-lapse snaps of de-adhering cells on substrates of different stiffnesses are shown. (b) Plot of normalized area (defined as change in area at any time divided by net change in area during the entire de-adhesion process) as a function of time for cells de-adhering on different substrates. Fitting of experimental de-adhesion curves with Boltzman curve allowed us to determine the two time constants of de-adhesion– and
, respectively. (c) and (d) show the plot of
and
respectively, for de-adhering cells on three different substrate stiffnesses. Red bars denote statistical significance (*p<0.05).