ArticleBiophysical journal2013
Cells actively stiffen fibrin networks by generating contractile stress.
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 90 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
90 citing papers in PubMed, 177 citations in OpenAlex.
- Osteogenic differentiation of gingival and periodontal ligament fibroblasts inhibits osteoclast formation in 2D and 3D fibrin cultures.Bone reports · 2026Article
- Segmental Mechanobiology of Normal and Glaucomatous Human Trabecular Meshwork Cells.ACS measurement science au · 2026Article
- Piezo1 regulates remodeling of skin-derived extracellular matrix by embedded umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells in a stiffness-dependent fashion.Materials today. Bio · 2026Article
- Flow-dependent traction in high- and low-flow normal trabecular meshwork cells.Acta biomaterialia · 2026Article
- Human gingival fibroblast-mediated remodeling of three-dimensional fibrin hydrogels.Matrix biology plus · 2026Article
- Heart-On-a-Chip with Integrated Ultrasoft Mechanosensors for Continuous Measurement of Cell- and Tissue-Scale Contractile Stresses.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Article
- Neuromechanobiology: Bridging Mechanobiology and Neuroscience Through Evidence and Open Questions.Cells · 2026Review
- Fibrin as a Versatile Fibrous Biopolymer.Sub-cellular biochemistry · 2026Review
- Fibrous polyisocyanide hydrogels for 3D cell culture applications.Nature protocols · 2025Review
- The role of non-linear viscoelastic hydrogel mechanics in cell culture and transduction.Materials today. Bio · 2025Review
- 3D traction force microscopy in human trabecular meshwork tissues: Effects of ROCK and YAP/TAZ inhibition in normal and glaucomatous tissues.Tissue & cell · 2025Article
- Utility of anLab on a chip · 2025Article
- Semi-synthetic fibrous fibrin composites promote 3D microvascular assembly, survival, and host integration of endothelial cells without mesenchymal cell support.Bioactive materials · 2025Article
- Tuning collagen nonlinear mechanics with interpenetrating networks drives adaptive cellular phenotypes in three dimensions.Science advances · 2025Article
- Article
- Well-Defined Synthetic Copolymers with Pendant Aldehydes Form Biocompatible Strain-Stiffening Hydrogels and Enable Competitive Ligand Displacement.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2024Article
- Hyperelasticity of blood clots: Bridging the gap between microscopic and continuum scales.Journal of the mechanics and physics of solids · 2024Article
- A YAP-centered mechanotransduction loop drives collective breast cancer cell invasion.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Unexpected softening of a fibrous matrix by contracting inclusions.Acta biomaterialia · 2024Article
- Establishment of a tissue-engineered colon cancer model for comparative analysis of cancer cell lines.Journal of biomedical materials research. Part A · 2024Article
30 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
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
During wound healing and angiogenesis, fibrin serves as a provisional extracellular matrix. We use a model system of fibroblasts embedded in fibrin gels to study how cell-mediated contraction may influence the macroscopic mechanical properties of their extracellular matrix during such processes. We demonstrate by macroscopic shear rheology that the cells increase the elastic modulus of the fibrin gels. Microscopy observations show that this stiffening sets in when the cells spread and apply traction forces on the fibrin fibers. We further show that the stiffening response mimics the effect of an external stress applied by mechanical shear. We propose that stiffening is a consequence of active myosin-driven cell contraction, which provokes a nonlinear elastic response of the fibrin matrix. Cell-induced stiffening is limited to a factor 3 even though fibrin gels can in principle stiffen much more before breaking. We discuss this observation in light of recent models of fibrin gel elasticity, and conclude that the fibroblasts pull out floppy modes, such as thermal bending undulations, from the fibrin network, but do not axially stretch the fibers. Our findings are relevant for understanding the role of matrix contraction by cells during wound healing and cancer development, and may provide design parameters for materials to guide morphogenesis in tissue engineering.
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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.