ArticleBiotechnology journal2013
Mesenchymal stem cell durotaxis depends on substrate stiffness gradient strength.
Article in Biotechnology journal, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 101 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
101 citing papers in PubMed.
- Microengineered Gradient Hydrogels for Mechanobiology.Advanced healthcare materials · 2026Review
- Mechanotransduction and its impact on regenerative medicine in orthopedic rehabilitation (Review).International journal of molecular medicine · 2026Review
- Fluorescently Labeled Gradient Hydrogels Reveal Matrix-Dependent Cell Responses to Substrate Stiffness.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Article
- Bioprinting of Microtissues Within Mechanically Tunable Support Baths to Engineer Anisotropic Musculoskeletal Tissues.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Dynamic Regulation of Granular Hydrogels Through Guest-Host Interactions to Spatiotemporally Guide Cellular Migration.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Biomimetic gradient hydrogels for osteochondral regeneration: from multi-dimensional design to clinical translation.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2026Review
- Review
- Durotaxis is a driver and potential therapeutic target in lung fibrosis and metastatic pancreatic cancer.Nature cell biology · 2025Article
- Navigating confinement: Mechanotransduction and metabolic adaptation.Current opinion in cell biology · 2025Review
- Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Chondrogenic Differentiation Induced by Continuous Stiffness Gradient in Photocrosslinkable Hydrogels.Journal of biomedical materials research. Part A · 2025Article
- Generation of Orthogonal Gradients of the Matrix Stiffness and Chemotactic Cues in a Suspended Array of Hydrogel to Study hMSCs Migration.ACS sensors · 2025Article
- Investigation of the cushioning mechanism of a novel dental implant system with composite hydrogel.Journal of dental sciences · 2025Article
- Continuous protein-density gradients: A new approach to correlate physical cues with cell response.PNAS nexus · 2024Article
- A Review: Biomechanical Aspects of the Fallopian Tube Relevant to its Function in Fertility.Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2024Review
- Neuronal TIMP2 regulates hippocampus-dependent plasticity and extracellular matrix complexity.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Article
- The Migration and the Fate of Dental Pulp Stem Cells.Biology · 2023Review
- Thymidine Phosphorylase Deficiency or Inhibition Preserves Cardiac Function in Mice With Acute Myocardial Infarction.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2023Article
- Integration of reconfigurable microchannels into aligned three-dimensional neural networks for spatially controllable neuromodulation.Science advances · 2023Article
- Viscoelastic Properties of Bioprinted Alginate Microbeads Compared to Their Bulk Hydrogel Analogs.Journal of biomechanical engineering · 2023Article
- Materials and extracellular matrix rigidity highlighted in tissue damages and diseases: Implication for biomaterials design and therapeutic targets.Bioactive materials · 2023Review
41 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
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) respond to the elasticity of their environment, which varies between and within tissues. Stiffness gradients within tissues can result from pathological conditions, but also occur through normal variation, such as in muscle. MSC migration can be directed by shallow stiffness gradients before differentiating. Gradients with fine control over substrate compliance - both in range and rate of change (strength) - are needed to better understand mechanical regulation of MSC migration in normal and diseased states. We describe polyacrylamide stiffness gradient fabrication using three distinct systems, generating stiffness gradients of physiological (1 Pa/μm), pathological (10 Pa/μm), and step change (≥ 100Pa/μm) strength. All gradients spanned a range of physiologically relevant elastic moduli for soft tissues (1-12 kPa). MSCs migrated to the stiffest region on each gradient. Time-lapse microscopy revealed that migration velocity correlated directly with gradient strength. Directed migration was reduced in the presence of the contractile agonist lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and cytoskeleton-perturbing drugs nocodazole and cytochalasin. LPA- and nocodazole-treated cells remained spread and protrusive on the substrate, while cytochalasin-treated cells did not. Nocodazole-treated cells spread in a similar manner to untreated cells, but exhibited greatly diminished traction forces. These data suggest that a functional actin cytoskeleton is required for migration whereas microtubules are required for directed migration. The data also imply that, in vivo, MSCs may preferentially accumulate in regions of high elastic modulus and make a greater contribution to tissue repairs in these locations.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.