Effects of micropost spacing and stiffness on cell motility

Simulation of the Mechanical Response of Cells on Micropost Substrates

“…In order to further elucidate mechanotransduction, previous experimental studies have employed arrays of microposts, or micropillars, to quantify the traction generated by a cell and provide a tuneable mechanical environment [8,9]. These microarrays have been used to study the adhesion and contractility of static cells [8,10] cells subjected to local [11] and global applied deformation [12], cell migration [13,14], and cell -cell adhesion [15]. Micropost arrays provide detailed quantitative data about the contractility of cells and measure tractions at a number of points on the cell [8], in contrast to whole-cell measurements obtained from atomic force microscopy or cell probing [16][17][18].…”

“…Previous studies of cells on microarrays have established a relationship between cell tractions and FA area [8,10] and also the changes in stiffness has also been spatially varied in arrays to investigate the migration of cells over gradients in substrate stiffness [14,21]. Micropost arrays have also been used to examine cell-cell adhesions by examining the tractions of two neighbouring cells and restricting the spread shapes of cells to only allow a single cell-cell adhesion to form [15].…”

Review of cellular mechanotransduction on micropost substrates

“…Moreover, it detects both direction and magnitude of traction forces at subcellular level so as to depict the exerted force distribution and analyze cellular mechanical responses [157]. Another advantage of micropost arrays is that the principle is simple and mechanical properties of microposts are easily defined by tailoring geometric parameters [54,147,157,180], so various mechanotransduction responses such as durotaxis and spatiotaxis can be examined easily through different micropost substrates [71,148]. However, there are some limitations for micropost arrays in experimental applications.…”

“…Compared with traditional substrates, micropost arrays are much easier to regulate substrate properties and provide a tunable mechanical environment to investigate substrate effects on cellular behaviors. Up to now, various micropost arrays with different micropost stiffness and densities have been developed as experimental platform to investigate mechanical responses and further elucidate cellular mechanotransduction [147,148].…”

“…At last, we discuss the future perspectives both in experimental technologies and in computational * Zhanjiang Wang wangzhanjiang001@gmail.com Yuxu Geng 1229390987@qq.com 1 subjected to cyclical mechanical deformation during distention and contraction of lungs which is associated with their development and growth [90,176]. In addition, tissue rigidity also influences numerous physiological processes such as cellular contractility, migration and differentiation [41,50,51,61,147]. In general, these biophysical factors can be divided into two groups: active biophysical cues and passive biophysical factors.…”