ArticleThe Journal of cell biology2004
Myotubes differentiate optimally on substrates with tissue-like stiffness: pathological implications for soft or stiff microenvironments.
Article in The Journal of cell biology, 2004. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 660 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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
660 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Advances and Prospects in Using Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells for 3D Bioprinting in Cardiac Tissue Engineering.Reviews in cardiovascular medicine · 2025Pooled it
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- Catalytic Nitric Oxide-Generating Selenium Nanoparticle-Loaded Hydrogels With Anti-Inflammatory and Pro-Wound-Healing Properties.Small science · 2026Article
- Extracellular-matrix mediated stresses spatially bias myoblast fusion and myotube growth.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Mechanically Spatio-Chimeric Fibrin Assembly Enables Vascular-Integrated Muscle Reconstruction for Volumetric Muscle Loss Repair.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- Edible Sulfonated Soy Protein Microcarriers for Cultivated Meat Cell Expansion.Journal of biomedical materials research. Part A · 2026Article
- Atomic Layer Deposition Processes: Versatile Platforms for Engineering ZnO-Chitosan Biointerfaces.Advanced healthcare materials · 2026Article
- Impact of Stiffness and Cell-Binding Motif Availability on the Cell-Specific Response to Collagen-Based Macromolecular Materials.Biomacromolecules · 2026Article
- Injectable antifibrotic drug-loaded hydrogels reduce fibrosis and restore myogenesis by enhancing mitochondrial metabolism and cell mechanics in an in vitro coculture model.Materials today. Bio · 2026Article
- Cell alignment on novel polymeric micro-hollow fiber membranes for neural and musculoskeletal tissue engineering.Cell and tissue research · 2026Article
- 3D bio-screen printing for high-throughput production of scaffolds for meat alternatives.NPJ science of food · 2026Article
- Dynamic Modulation of the Microenvironment Promotes Functional Maturation of Engineered Tissues.Advanced healthcare materials · 2026Article
- Mechanobiological landscape of muscle stem cells.Skeletal muscle · 2026Review
- Bioprinting of Microtissues Within Mechanically Tunable Support Baths to Engineer Anisotropic Musculoskeletal Tissues.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Cytoskeletal prestress homeostasis is a biological principle that governs living cell structure and function.Mechanobiology in medicine · 2026Review
- Exploring the piezoelectric phenomenon: From polymers to human tissues and advanced applications in tissue engineering.Bioactive materials · 2026Review
- PIEZO1 Channels Modulate the Small Extracellular Vesicle Release in C2C12 Cells.Journal of cellular physiology · 2026Article
- Conductive MXene/adECM hydrogel promotes skeletal muscle regeneration and innervation through CaJournal of nanobiotechnology · 2026Article
- Collagen-Based 3D Scaffolds from Sea Urchin Food Waste for Skeletal Muscle Tissue Engineering.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
600 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Contractile myocytes provide a test of the hypothesis that cells sense their mechanical as well as molecular microenvironment, altering expression, organization, and/or morphology accordingly. Here, myoblasts were cultured on collagen strips attached to glass or polymer gels of varied elasticity. Subsequent fusion into myotubes occurs independent of substrate flexibility. However, myosin/actin striations emerge later only on gels with stiffness typical of normal muscle (passive Young's modulus, E approximately 12 kPa). On glass and much softer or stiffer gels, including gels emulating stiff dystrophic muscle, cells do not striate. In addition, myotubes grown on top of a compliant bottom layer of glass-attached myotubes (but not softer fibroblasts) will striate, whereas the bottom cells will only assemble stress fibers and vinculin-rich adhesions. Unlike sarcomere formation, adhesion strength increases monotonically versus substrate stiffness with strongest adhesion on glass. These findings have major implications for in vivo introduction of stem cells into diseased or damaged striated muscle of altered mechanical composition.
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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.