ArticleThe Journal of cell biology1999
Direct observations of the mechanical behaviors of the cytoskeleton in living fibroblasts.
Article in The Journal of cell biology, 1999. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
44 citing papers in PubMed, 203 citations in OpenAlex.
- Structural response of microtubule and actin cytoskeletons to direct intracellular load.The Journal of cell biology · 2025Article
- Tuning the Elasticity of Nanogels Improves Their Circulation Time by Evading Immune Cells.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2022Article
- Elastic wrinkling of keratocyte lamellipodia driven by myosin-induced contractile stress.Biophysical journal · 2021Article
- β-tubulin carboxy-terminal tails exhibit isotype-specific effects on microtubule dynamics in human gene-edited cells.Life science alliance · 2018Article
- A novel assay reveals preferential binding between Rabs, kinesins, and specific endosomal subpopulations.The Journal of cell biology · 2015Article
- Characterization of Dynamic Behaviour of MCF7 and MCF10A Cells in Ultrasonic Field Using Modal and Harmonic Analyses.PloS one · 2015Article
- High-Throughput Assessment of Cellular Mechanical Properties.Annual review of biomedical engineering · 2015Review
- Astrocyte processes label for filamentous actin and reorient early within the optic nerve head in a rat glaucoma model.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2014Article
- Scaffold-free tissue engineering: organization of the tissue cytoskeleton and its effects on tissue shape.Annals of biomedical engineering · 2014Article
- Tensegrity, cellular biophysics, and the mechanics of living systems.Reports on progress in physics. Physical Society (Great Britain) · 2014Review
- Segmentation and morphometric analysis of cells from fluorescence microscopy images of cytoskeletons.Computational and mathematical methods in medicine · 2013Article
- Mechanotransduction through fibronectin-integrin focal adhesion in microvascular smooth muscle cells: is calcium essential?American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology · 2012Article
- Mechanical manipulation of neurons to control axonal development.Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE · 2011Article
- Stress transmission within the cell.Comprehensive Physiology · 2011Review
- A llama-derived gelsolin single-domain antibody blocks gelsolin-G-actin interaction.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2010Article
- Atomic force microscopy probing in the measurement of cell mechanics.International journal of nanomedicine · 2010Review
- Multi-scale models of cell and tissue dynamics.Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences · 2009Article
- Understanding sensory nerve mechanotransduction through localized elastomeric matrix control.PloS one · 2009Article
- Mechanotransduction at a distance: mechanically coupling the extracellular matrix with the nucleus.Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology · 2009Review
- Vimentin filaments support extension of tubulin-based microtentacles in detached breast tumor cells.Cancer research · 2008Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Cytoskeletal proteins tagged with green fluorescent protein were used to directly visualize the mechanical role of the cytoskeleton in determining cell shape. Rat embryo (REF 52) fibroblasts were deformed using glass needles either uncoated for purely physical manipulations, or coated with laminin to induce attachment to the cell surface. Cells responded to uncoated probes in accordance with a three-layer model in which a highly elastic nucleus is surrounded by cytoplasmic microtubules that behave as a jelly-like viscoelastic fluid. The third, outermost cortical layer is an elastic shell under sustained tension. Adhesive, laminin-coated needles caused focal recruitment of actin filaments to the contacted surface region and increased the cortical layer stiffness. This direct visualization of actin recruitment confirms a widely postulated model for mechanical connections between extracellular matrix proteins and the actin cytoskeleton. Cells tethered to laminin-treated needles strongly resisted elongation by actively contracting. Whether using uncoated probes to apply simple deformations or laminin-coated probes to induce surface-to-cytoskeleton interaction we observed that experimentally applied forces produced exclusively local responses by both the actin and microtubule cytoskeleton. This local accomodation and dissipation of force is inconsistent with the proposal that cellular tensegrity determines cell shape.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.