ArticleACS nano2019
Soft Hyaluronic Gels Promote Cell Spreading, Stress Fibers, Focal Adhesion, and Membrane Tension by Phosphoinositide Signaling, Not Traction Force.
Article in ACS nano, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 35 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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
35 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 72 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Metabolically intact nuclei are fluidized by the activity of the chromatin remodeling motor BRG1.Biophysical journal · 2025Article
- Tissue-dependent mechanosensing by cells derived from human tumors.npj biological physics and mechanics · 2025Article
- Analytical methods in studying cell force sensing: principles, current technologies and perspectives.Regenerative biomaterials · 2025Review
- Defining optimal electrospun membranes to enhance biological activities of human endometrial MSCs.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2025Article
- Mechanobiology of Hyaluronan: Connecting Biomechanics and Bioactivity in Musculoskeletal Tissues.Annual review of biomedical engineering · 2024Review
- Cocktail Cell-Reprogrammed Hydrogel Microspheres Achieving Scarless Hair Follicle Regeneration.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2024Article
- Actomyosin Activity and Piezo1 Activity Synergistically Drive Urinary System Fibroblast Activation.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2023Article
- Mechanical Way To Study Molecular Structure of Pericellular Layer.ACS applied materials & interfaces · 2023Article
- Trends in mechanobiology guided tissue engineering and tools to study cell-substrate interactions: a brief review.Biomaterials research · 2023Review
- Oxygen-generating microparticles downregulate HIF-1α expression, increase cardiac contractility, and mitigate ischemic injury.Acta biomaterialia · 2023Article
- Static and Dynamic: Evolving Biomaterial Mechanical Properties to Control Cellular Mechanotransduction.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2023Review
- Beneficial Effect of Polysaccharide Gel Made of Xanthan Gum and Locust Bean Gum on Bovine Oocytes.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Multiscale design of stiffening and ROS scavenging hydrogels for the augmentation of mandibular bone regeneration.Bioactive materials · 2023Article
- Effective cell membrane tension is independent of polyacrylamide substrate stiffness.PNAS nexus · 2023Article
- MicroRNA-22 promoted osteogenic differentiation of valvular interstitial cells by inhibiting CAB39 expression during aortic valve calcification.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2022Article
- Vimentin Intermediate Filaments Mediate Cell Morphology on Viscoelastic Substrates.ACS applied bio materials · 2022Article
- The interplay of fibroblasts, the extracellular matrix, and inflammation in scar formation.The Journal of biological chemistry · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Cells respond to both physical and chemical aspects of their substrate. Whether intracellular signals initiated by physical stimuli are fundamentally different from those elicited by chemical stimuli is an open question. Here, we show that the requirement for a stiff substrate (and, therefore, high cellular tension) for cells to produce large focal adhesions and stress fibers is obviated when a soft substrate contains both hyaluronic acid (HA) and an integrin ligand (collagen I). HA is a major extracellular matrix component that is often up-regulated during wound healing and tumor growth. HA, together with collagen I, promotes hepatocellular carcinoma cell (Huh7) spreading on very soft substrates (300 Pa), resulting in morphology and motility similar to what these cells develop only on stiff substrates (>30 kPa) formed by polyacrylamide that contains collagen but not HA. The effect of HA requires turnover of polyphosphoinositides and leads to the activation of Akt. The inhibition of polyphosphoinositide turnover causes Huh7 cells and fibroblasts to decrease spreading and detach, whereas cells on stiffer substrates show almost no response. Traction force microscopy shows that the cell maintains a low strain energy and net contractile moment on HA substrates compared to stiff polyacrylamide substrates. Membrane tension measured by tether pulling is similar on soft HA and stiff polyacrylamide substrates. These results suggest that simultaneous signaling stimulated by HA and an integrin ligand can generate phosphoinositide-mediated signals to the cytoskeleton that reproduce those generated by high cellular tension.
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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.