Environmental stiffness restores mechanical homeostasis in vimentin-depleted cells.

ABSTRACT: Recent experimental evidence indicates a role for the intermediate filament vimentin in regulating cellular mechanical homeostasis, but its precise contribution remains to be discovered. Mechanical homeostasis requires a balanced bi-directional interplay between the cell's microenvironment and the cellular morphological and mechanical state-this balance being regulated via processes of mechanotransduction and mechanoresponse, commonly referred to as mechanoreciprocity. Here, we systematically analyze vimentin-expressing and vimentin-depleted cells in a swatch of in vitro cellular microenvironments varying in stiffness and/or ECM density. We find that vimentin-expressing cells maintain mechanical homeostasis by adapting cellular morphology and mechanics to micromechanical changes in the mic

SUBMITTER: Grolleman J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10603057 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature