Myoblast morphology and organization on biochemically micro-patterned hydrogel coatings under cyclic mechanical strain

Prediction of Cell Alignment on Cyclically Strained Grooved Substrates

“…Many different experimental studies have been performed to investigate the final outcome of this competition (22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33). The final cellular organization in these studies appeared to depend on several factors, such as the amplitude of the applied cyclic strain, the size of the used topographical features, and the type of cells investigated.…”

Energy distribution in disordered elastic networks

“…Many authors have investigated the properties of the cytoskeleton by means of micromechanical models [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. These are expected to be useful for the understanding, for instance, of mechanotransduction, tissue development, or anomalous behavior of ill cells in comparison with healthy ones [12][13][14]. As part of the cytoskeleton, the actin filaments form a dynamic network [15] with assembling and disassembling rates that depend on the mechanical stimuli.…”

Building gyms for cells : development of combinatorial screening platforms for mechanical stimulation

“…Two of these studies used parallel patterned lines along which cells showed alignment. On the application of strains at various angles to the patterned lines (0 o , 45 o and 90 o ), the cells mostly ignored the alignment stimulus of the strain and remained aligned along the patterned lines 64,66 . Although in one of these studies, when the strains were applied along the patterned lines, the cells aligned along an intermediate angle between the dictated alignment by the strains and the surface patterning 64 .…”

“…On the application of strains at various angles to the patterned lines (0 o , 45 o and 90 o ), the cells mostly ignored the alignment stimulus of the strain and remained aligned along the patterned lines 64,66 . Although in one of these studies, when the strains were applied along the patterned lines, the cells aligned along an intermediate angle between the dictated alignment by the strains and the surface patterning 64 . Two other studies used patterning to align and assemble cells into arrangements resembling their in vivo condition and then applied strains either along the same direction as the in vivo strain direction for them or along the perpendicular direction, which represented a pathological condition 10,67 (figure 2(i)).…”

“…Arrays of cell adhesive islands smaller than cells have been used to differentiate between the effects of attachment area and cell shape 61 and also to determine the limits of attachment point size and distance between them needed for cells to attach and spread 63 . Rows of attachment areas have also been used to align cells in a way similar to contact guidance by microgroove topographies 64 . And gradients in availability of attachment areas have been used to study the corresponding determination of cell migration, a process known as haptotaxis 65 .…”