Review of cellular mechanotransduction on micropost substrates

Abstract

As physical entities, living cells can sense and respond to various stimulations within and outside the body through cellular mechanotransduction. Any deviation in cellular mechanotransduction will not only undermine the orchestrated regulation of mechanical responses, but also lead to the breakdown of their physiological function. Therefore, a quantitative study of cellular mechanotransduction needs to be conducted both in experiments and in computational simulations to investigate the underlying mechanisms of cellular mechanotransduction. In this review, we present an overview of the current knowledge and significant progress in cellular mechanotransduction via micropost substrates. In the aspect of experimental studies, we summarize significant experimental progress and place an emphasis on the coupled relationship among cellular spreading, focal adhesion and contractility as well as the influence of substrate properties on force-involved cellular behaviors. In the other aspect of computational investigations, we outline a coupled framework including the biochemically motivated stress fiber model and thermodynamically motivated adhesion model and present their predicted biomechanical responses and then compare predicted simulation results with experimental observations to further explore the mechanisms of cellular mechanotransduction. At last, we discuss the future perspectives both in experimental technologies and in computational models, as well as facing challenges in the area of cellular mechanotransduction.

Dissecting fat-tailed fluctuations in the cytoskeleton with active micropost arrays

“…2D and SI Appendix, Figs. S3 E and F and S5), as is typically seen for contractile cells on such substrates (23,25,26,28). The correlations of the fluctuation metrics with the traction force-based discriminator are illustrated in Fig.…”

“…AMPAD Arrays Probe Cellular Motion at the Nanoscale. Micropost arrays are an increasingly important approach for quantifying cellular mechanics (23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28). A schematic of a micropost array with…”

“…Here we report extensive micromechanical measurements of NIH 3T3 fibroblasts using active micropost array detectors (AMPADs). These microfabricated supports provide a closely spaced array of deformable microposts directly coupled to the cells' actomyosin machinery (23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28). The posts' motion can be tracked at high speed with nanometer precision, and they also include embedded magnetic nanowires that can be used to measure the cytoskeleton's mechanical response to applied force.…”

Regulation and mechanism of YAP/TAZ in the mechanical microenvironment of stem cells (Review)

“…Different basal shapes of cell culture have an important effect on cell proliferation and differentiation. Average focal-adhesion stress per cell increases with micropost rigidity for both human MSCs and umbilical vein endothelial cells but to different magnitudes in each cell type ( 49 , 50 ). These differences in focal adhesion stress between cell types suggest that there may be multiple ways for cells to mechanically adapt to their environment ( 49 ).…”

In Vitro Magnetic Techniques for Investigating Cancer Progression

“…Like magnetic tweezer techniques, these distinct pillars can be used to isolate and quantify forces at individual cell-matrix contact sites due to their free motion from one another. Additionally, this magnetic method is one of few that can detect traction forces that cells impose onto the substrate during migration [154]. However, the translation of these results to in situ cell response is likely to suffer due to the lack of ECM proteins used in the culture platform as well as the often unrealistic stiffness of the PDMS compared to the native tissue of the cell type.…”