TITLE:
Modeling the Impact of Cell Type and Substrate Stiffness on Cell Traction
AUTHORS:
Srikanth Raghavan, Aravind R. Rammohan, Martial Hervy
KEYWORDS:
Cell-Matrix Adhesion; Extracellular Matrix; Polyacrylamide Gels; Elasticity Theory; Mechanotransduction; Stem Cell; Modeling
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Biophysics,
Vol.3 No.4,
October
17,
2013
ABSTRACT: We propose a mathematical model to suggest a unified explanation
behind the observation that some cell types tend to spread more efficiently on
stiff substrates and are able to adapt their internal stiffness to the external
stiffness. Our model also offers an explanation regarding the dependence of
cell spreading on cell type. We show that our model for stiffness adaptation is
in good agreement with experimental data. We also apply our model to calculate the
energy of traction on bulk substrates as well as thin coatings, thereby
extracting estimates of critical coating thickness as a function of cell type
and coating bulk modulus.