ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2018
Matching material and cellular timescales maximizes cell spreading on viscoelastic substrates.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 135 papers.
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Who cites it
135 citing papers in PubMed.
- Substrate curvature and stiffness equivalence in governing cell mechanosensing.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Traction Force Microscopy for Viscoelastic Substrates: A Semi-Analytical Method.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- From disease model to therapeutic insight: An engineered hydrogel reveals the role of matrix viscous dissipation in intervertebral disc degeneration.Bioactive materials · 2026Article
- Computational insights on the interplay between electrotaxis and mechanotaxis.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Mechanical Signaling From ECMs to Nuclear Envelopes in Cell Transitions and Fate Decisions: A Review and Perspective on Adhesion-Niche-Based Anti-EndMT and Anti-EMT.Annals of biomedical engineering · 2026Review
- Molecular-Scale Tuning of Low-Molecular-Weight Gelators Controls Supramolecular Assembly and Directs Human Mesenchymal Stem Cell Growth.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026Article
- Article
- Leveraging Viscosity to Unlock the Osteogenic Potential of BMP-2 Mimetic DWIVA.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Article
- Mechanical regulation of metabolism, epigenetics, and their interplay.npj biomedical innovations · 2026Review
- Glassy adhesion dynamics govern transitions between sub-diffusive and super-diffusive cancer cell migration on viscoelastic substrates.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Models of Cellular Mechanosensation.Results and problems in cell differentiation · 2026Review
- Pathological Interplay of ROS With Myofibroblasts: An Impediment to Corneal Restitution.Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity · 2026Review
- Emerging Smart and Adaptive Hydrogels for Next-Generation Tissue Engineering.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Review
- Contact stiffness governs cell mechanosensing through molecular clutches.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Hydrogel Viscoelasticity Modulates Cell Nascent Extracellular Matrix Deposition.Macromolecular rapid communications · 2025Article
- Unlocking the therapeutic potential of cellular mechanobiology.Science advances · 2025Review
- Piezo1 regulates the mechanotransduction of soft matrix viscoelasticity.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Dynamic rigidity changes enable rapid cell migration on soft substrates.Nature communications · 2025Article
- The role of non-linear viscoelastic hydrogel mechanics in cell culture and transduction.Materials today. Bio · 2025Review
75 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Recent evidence has shown that, in addition to rigidity, the viscous response of the extracellular matrix (ECM) significantly affects the behavior and function of cells. However, the mechanism behind such mechanosensitivity toward viscoelasticity remains unclear. In this study, we systematically examined the dynamics of motor clutches (i.e., focal adhesions) formed between the cell and a viscoelastic substrate using analytical methods and direct Monte Carlo simulation. Interestingly, we observe that, for low ECM rigidity, maximum cell spreading is achieved at an optimal level of viscosity in which the substrate relaxation time falls between the timescale for clutch binding and its characteristic binding lifetime. That is, viscosity serves to stiffen soft substrates on a timescale faster than the clutch off-rate, which enhances cell-ECM adhesion and cell spreading. On the other hand, for substrates that are stiff, our model predicts that viscosity will not influence cell spreading, since the bound clutches are saturated by the elevated stiffness. The model was tested and validated using experimental measurements on three different material systems and explained the different observed effects of viscosity on each substrate. By capturing the mechanism by which substrate viscoelasticity affects cell spreading across a wide range of material parameters, our analytical model provides a useful tool for designing biomaterials that optimize cellular adhesion and mechanosensing.
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