ArticleNature communications2021
The force loading rate drives cell mechanosensing through both reinforcement and cytoskeletal softening.
Article in Nature communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 62 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
62 citing papers in PubMed.
- Mechanobiology of orofacial tissues: principles, mechanisms, and therapeutic applications.International journal of oral science · 2026Review
- Load-dependent RGD-context sensing via αV-class integrins reprograms cell adhesion and mechanics.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Assessment of the Adhesion to Decellularized Cardiac Patches of Stem Cells Through Single-Cell Force Spectroscopy (SCFS).Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Longitudinal Live Imaging-Derived 4D Hemodynamics and Dynamic Tissue Mechanics Across Outflow Tract Morphogenesis.Annals of biomedical engineering · 2026Article
- Fibrillar adhesion dynamics govern the timescales of nuclear mechano-response via the vimentin cytoskeleton.Nature materials · 2026Article
- Venous Nanoflap Oscillations: Biomechanical Determinants and Hydrodynamic Consequences in the Deep Cerebral Venous System.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Restoring the tumour mechanophenotype of vocal fold cancer reverts its malignant properties.Nature materials · 2026Article
- Timing Mechanotransduction: Mechanically Dynamic Biomaterials Reveal the Temporal Hierarchy of YAP/TAZ Control Nodes.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Effects of Intracellular Force Localization on Cancer Cell Invasion: Revealing Mechanical Trade-offs through Experimentally Validated Computational Models.ACS biomaterials science & engineering · 2026Article
- Gear-like MOF microrobots for single cell mechanotransduction of microvilli.Nature communications · 2026Article
- An Opto-Actuated Hydrogel for Cell Mechanoactuation and Real-Time Force Monitoring.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- The Protonic Brain: Nanoscale pH Dynamics, Proton Wires, and Acid-Base Information Coding in Neural Tissue.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Mechanical memory in cells: mechanisms, effects, and applications in regenerative medicine.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2026Review
- Fibronectin Peptide Modified Hydrogels Activate a Contractile Phenotype in Nucleus Pulposus Cells.Advanced biology · 2025Article
- Bionic Nanostructures Create Mechanical Signals to Mediate the Composite Structural Bone Regeneration Through Multi-System Regulation.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Review
- Soft matter mechanics of immune cell aggregates.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Article
- Mechanochemistry: Fundamental Principles and Applications.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Review
- Compressive Forces Induce Epigenetic Activation of Aged Human Dermal Fibroblasts Through ERK Signaling Pathway.Aging cell · 2025Article
- Sustained strain applied at high rates drives dynamic tensioning in epithelial cells.Communications biology · 2025Article
- 3D hydrogel platform with macromolecular actuators for precisely controlled mechanical forces on cancer cell migration.Nature communications · 2025Article
2 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Cell response to force regulates essential processes in health and disease. However, the fundamental mechanical variables that cells sense and respond to remain unclear. Here we show that the rate of force application (loading rate) drives mechanosensing, as predicted by a molecular clutch model. By applying dynamic force regimes to cells through substrate stretching, optical tweezers, and atomic force microscopy, we find that increasing loading rates trigger talin-dependent mechanosensing, leading to adhesion growth and reinforcement, and YAP nuclear localization. However, above a given threshold the actin cytoskeleton softens, decreasing loading rates and preventing reinforcement. By stretching rat lungs in vivo, we show that a similar phenomenon may occur. Our results show that cell sensing of external forces and of passive mechanical parameters (like tissue stiffness) can be understood through the same mechanisms, driven by the properties under force of the mechanosensing molecules involved.
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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.