ArticleAmerican journal of physiology. Lung cellular and molecular physiology2012
Improved throughput traction microscopy reveals pivotal role for matrix stiffness in fibroblast contractility and TGF-β responsiveness.
Article in American journal of physiology. Lung cellular and molecular physiology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 97 papers.
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Who cites it
97 citing papers in PubMed, 151 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mechanosignaling through YAP and TAZ drives fibroblast activation and fibrosis.American journal of physiology. Lung cellular and molecular physiology · 2015Trial
- Matrices of physiologic stiffness potently inactivate idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis fibroblasts.American journal of respiratory cell and molecular biology · 2013Trial
- Mechanically Programmable DNA Hydrogel Microparticles for 3D Cellular Systems.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- An agent-based model suggests how senescent cell behavior and matrix mechanics drive pulmonary fibrosis in aged mice.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Hydrogen sulfide alleviates hyperoxia effects on mitochondria in human developing airway smooth muscle.JCI insight · 2026Article
- Hydrogel-Embedded Precision-Cut Lung Slices Recapitulate Fibrotic Gene Expression and Enable Therapeutic Response Evaluation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Physiomimetic culture bias durotaxis toward soft environments.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Mechanobiology and Resolution of Lung Fibrosis.Annual review of physiology · 2026Review
- The importance of mechanical forces in chronic respiratory diseases.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2026Review
- Pathological Interplay of ROS With Myofibroblasts: An Impediment to Corneal Restitution.Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity · 2026Review
- Substrate elasticity controls fibroblast motility on non-oxidized PDMS under weak adhesion.Biophysics and physicobiology · 2026Article
- A novel agarose-free, standardized generation and versatile ECM characterization of decellularized scaffolds from normal and fibrotic human lung tissue.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2026Article
- Biomaterial-based 3D human lung models replicate pathological characteristics of early pulmonary fibrosis.Acta biomaterialia · 2025Article
- Primary Mouse Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells Exhibit Region- and Sex-Dependent Biological Responses In Vitro.Journal of biomechanical engineering · 2024Article
- Non-canonical IKB kinases regulate YAP/TAZ and pathological vascular remodeling behaviors in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells.Physiological reports · 2024Article
- Field Guide to Traction Force Microscopy.Cellular and molecular bioengineering · 2024Review
- Wnt signaling pathway in spinal cord injury: from mechanisms to potential applications.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2024Review
- 3D in vitro hydrogel models to study the human lung extracellular matrix and fibroblast function.Respiratory research · 2023Review
- A machine learning approach to predict cellular mechanical stresses in response to chemical perturbation.Biophysical journal · 2023Article
- Large Polyacrylamide Hydrogels for Large-Batch Cell Culture and Mechanobiological Studies.Macromolecular bioscience · 2023Article
37 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Lung fibroblast functions such as matrix remodeling and activation of latent transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) are associated with expression of the myofibroblast phenotype and are directly linked to fibroblast capacity to generate force and deform the extracellular matrix. However, the study of fibroblast force-generating capacities through methods such as traction force microscopy is hindered by low throughput and time-consuming procedures. In this study, we improved at the detail level methods for higher-throughput traction measurements on polyacrylamide hydrogels using gel-surface-bound fluorescent beads to permit autofocusing and automated displacement mapping, and transduction of fibroblasts with a fluorescent label to streamline cell boundary identification. Together these advances substantially improve the throughput of traction microscopy and allow us to efficiently compute the forces exerted by lung fibroblasts on substrates spanning the stiffness range present in normal and fibrotic lung tissue. Our results reveal that lung fibroblasts dramatically alter the forces they transmit to the extracellular matrix as its stiffness changes, with very low forces generated on matrices as compliant as normal lung tissue. Moreover, exogenous TGF-β1 selectively accentuates tractions on stiff matrices, mimicking fibrotic lung, but not on physiological stiffness matrices, despite equivalent changes in Smad2/3 activation. Taken together, these results demonstrate a pivotal role for matrix mechanical properties in regulating baseline and TGF-β1-stimulated contraction of lung fibroblasts and suggest that stiff fibrotic lung tissue may promote myofibroblast activation through contractility-driven events, whereas normal lung tissue compliance may protect against such feedback amplification of fibroblast activation.
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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.