The fibrous cellular microenvironment, and how cells make sense of a tangled web

摘要: The physiology and fate of living cells have long been known to be guided by their niche-specific microenvironments. Certain lineage-specific traits arise in mesenchymal stem from the elastic stiffness substratum on which they are cultured (1). This observation helped launch mechanobiology as a modern field, has motivated decade research how sense stiffness. A number factors identified experimentally for transduction mechanics cells, including local surface topology cell through structural features, such porosity (2). Mathematical models determined that interact with materials around them dynamically cycling focal adhesions; this led an understanding molecular clutch transmits forces stabilizes larger adhesions stiffer substrata (3, 4). These recently extended account broad range detailed biophysical kinetic phenomena within cell, intracellular transport spatial disposition also accounted nonlinearity extracellular material (5). picture seemed fairly complete until were studied different type substratum, nonwoven mesh nanofibers (6). Here, same consistently formed seemingly violated rules. Does apparent contradiction mean follow rules fibrous than do continuous substrata? Cao et al. (7) reveal PNAS there may indeed single set can explain both sets results. discovery rulebook … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence should addressed. Email: genin{at}wustl.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1