A structural bio-chemo-mechanical model for vascular smooth muscle cell traction force microscopy.

ABSTRACT: Altered vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) contractility is both a response to and a driver for impaired arterial function, and the leading experimental technique for quantifying VSMC contraction is traction force microscopy (TFM). TFM involves the complex interaction among several chemical, biological, and mechanical mechanisms, making it difficult to translate TFM results into tissue-scale behavior. Here, a computational model capturing each of the major aspects of the cell traction process is presented. The model incorporates four interacting components: a biochemical signaling network, individual actomyosin fiber bundle contraction, a cytoskeletal network of interconnected fibers, and elastic substrate displacement due to cytoskeletal force. The synthesis of these four components leads

SUBMITTER: Flanary SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10603623 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature