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Biophys. J. BioFAST: First Published January 11, 2008. doi:10.1529/biophysj.107.126060
© 2008 by the Biophysical Society.

A more recent version of this article appeared on March 1, 2008.
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BIOPHYSICAL THEORY AND MODELING

Do cells sense stress or strain? Measurement of cellular orientation can provide a clue

Rumi De 1*, Assaf Zemel 2 and Samuel A Safran 1

1 Weizmann Institute of Science
2 University of California, Davis, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rumi.de{at}weizmann.ac.il.

Submitted on November 19, 2007
Revised on December 17, 2007
Accepted on 28 December 2007


  Abstract
We predict theoretically the steady-state orientation of cells subjected to dynamical stresses that vary more quickly than the cellular relaxation time. For the case where the cell activity is governed by the matrix strain, we show that the orientation is a strong function of the Poisson's ratio of the matrix. This is in contrast to the case where the orientation is governed by the matrix stress. These results can be used to differentiate systems in which the strain or the stress determine the `set-point' for the mechanosensitivity of cells.

Key Words: Biological physics: theory, Cell adhesions and cytoskeleton, Cell orientation, Elasticity of cells in gels




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D. Kong, B. Ji, and L. Dai
Stability of Adhesion Clusters and Cell Reorientation under Lateral Cyclic Tension
Biophys. J., October 15, 2008; 95(8): 4034 - 4044.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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Copyright © 2008 by the Biophysical Society.