ArticleBiophysical journal2013
Fibers in the extracellular matrix enable long-range stress transmission between cells.
Article in Biophysical journal, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 87 papers.
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Who cites it
87 citing papers in PubMed.
- Mechanical cues of an interpenetrating polysaccharide matrix regulate self-assembly of collagen fibers.Science advances · 2026Article
- Apical spectrin organizes cortical actin filament bundles to pattern C. elegans cuticle ridges.PLoS genetics · 2026Article
- Active Microrheology Reveals Distinct ECM Mechanical Signatures Induced by Stromal Cells of Different Tissue Origins during Vascular Morphogenesis.ACS biomaterials science & engineering · 2026Article
- Cell-Extracellular Matrix Feedback Results in Spontaneous Cell Polarization and Heterogeneous Remodeling in 3D Isotropic and Aligned Discrete-Fiber Models of Cell-Mediated Remodeling.Cellular and molecular bioengineering · 2026Article
- Apical spectrin organizes cortical actin filament bundles to patternbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Extracellular Matrix Viscoelasticity Regulates Mammary Branching Morphogenesis.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- The importance of mechanical forces in chronic respiratory diseases.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2026Review
- Traction force and mechanosensitivity mediate species-specific implantation patterns in human and mouse embryos.Science advances · 2025Article
- Structure, Mechanics, and Mechanobiology of Fibrocartilage Pericellular Matrix Mediated by Type V Collagen.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Semi-synthetic fibrous fibrin composites promote 3D microvascular assembly, survival, and host integration of endothelial cells without mesenchymal cell support.Bioactive materials · 2025Article
- The underlying difference of metastatic and non-metastatic breast cancer cells in configuring type I collagen fibres to promote migration by cell mechanics.Mechanobiology in medicine · 2025Article
- An optical system for cellular mechanostimulation in 3D hydrogels.Acta biomaterialia · 2024Article
- Proteolysis-free amoeboid migration of melanoma cells through crowded environments via bleb-driven worrying.Developmental cell · 2024Article
- E-cadherin biomaterials reprogram collective cell migration and cell cycling by forcing homeostatic conditions.Cell reports · 2024Article
- Mechanical Intercellular Communication via Matrix-Borne Cell Force Transmission During Vascular Network Formation.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2024Article
- Recent Progress in Advanced Polyester Elastomers for Tissue Engineering and Bioelectronics.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- The Effect of Substrate Stiffness on Elastic Force Transmission in the Epithelial Monolayers over Short Timescales.Cellular and molecular bioengineering · 2023Article
- Inference of long-range cell-cell force transmission from ECM remodeling fluctuations.Communications biology · 2023Article
- Advanced Mechanical Testing Technologies at the Cellular Level: The Mechanisms and Application in Tissue Engineering.Polymers · 2023Review
- High-resolution confocal and light-sheet imaging of collagen 3D network architecture in very large samples.iScience · 2023Article
27 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Cells can sense, signal, and organize via mechanical forces. The ability of cells to mechanically sense and respond to the presence of other cells over relatively long distances (e.g., ∼100 μm, or ∼10 cell-diameters) across extracellular matrix (ECM) has been attributed to the strain-hardening behavior of the ECM. In this study, we explore an alternative hypothesis: the fibrous nature of the ECM makes long-range stress transmission possible and provides an important mechanism for long-range cell-cell mechanical signaling. To test this hypothesis, confocal reflectance microscopy was used to develop image-based finite-element models of stress transmission within fibroblast-seeded collagen gels. Models that account for the gel's fibrous nature were compared with homogenous linear-elastic and strain-hardening models to investigate the mechanisms of stress propagation. Experimentally, cells were observed to compact the collagen gel and align collagen fibers between neighboring cells within 24 h. Finite-element analysis revealed that stresses generated by a centripetally contracting cell boundary are concentrated in the relatively stiff ECM fibers and are propagated farther in a fibrous matrix as compared to homogeneous linear elastic or strain-hardening materials. These results support the hypothesis that ECM fibers, especially aligned ones, play an important role in long-range stress transmission.
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