Daniel Isabey's blog

Cell sensitivity to substrate stiffness

In Féréol et al. (Biophys. J., 2009, 96: 2009-2022),

we propose a coupled theoretical and experimental study in order to understand the

mechanism of cell sensitivity to substrate stiffness. To do so, we first consider

that adhesion sites pass through different stages of development, e.g., Initial

Adhesion (IA), Focal Complex (FC), Focal Adhesions (FA), characterized by the

Ex-vivo measure of stress-strain relationships in populations of living adherent cells by means of ligand-coated ferromagnetic microbeads (mean diameter: 4.5 µm) attached to the transmembrane mechanoreceptors which are linked to the cytoskeleton (CSK), reveal non linear cell mechanical behavior. However, this non linear cell mechanical behaviour is subjected to controversy for various reasons. First, it has not been systematically found. Results seem to depend on the micromanipulation method used and/or the cell type.