Mechanical Stability Determines Stress Fiber and Focal Adhesion Orientation.

ABSTRACT: It is well documented in a variety of adherent cell types that in response to anisotropic signals from the microenvironment cells alter their cytoskeletal organization. Previous theoretical studies of these phenomena were focused primarily on the elasticity of cytoskeletal actin stress fibers (SFs) and of the substrate while the contribution of focal adhesions (FAs) through which the cytoskeleton is linked to the external environment has not been considered. Here we propose a mathematical model comprised of a single linearly elastic SF and two identical linearly elastic FAs of a finite size at the endpoints of the SF to investigate cytoskeletal realignment in response to uniaxial stretching of the substrate. The model also includes the contribution of the chemical potential energies of the

SUBMITTER: Stamenovic D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2849636 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature