ArticleACS nano2023
A Photopolymerized Hydrogel System with Dual Stiffness Gradients Reveals Distinct Actomyosin-Based Mechano-Responses in Fibroblast Durotaxis.
Article in ACS nano, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- Programmable continuous gradient bioprinting for engineering spatially heterogeneous microenvironments.Materials today. Bio · 2026Article
- Simple fabrication method for cancer cell migration studies on biomimetic substrates with tunable stiffness.Materials today. Bio · 2026Article
- Microengineered Gradient Hydrogels for Mechanobiology.Advanced healthcare materials · 2026Review
- Quantitative analysis of fibroblast migration reveals migratory states characterized by force generation, cell shape and motion.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Fluorescently Labeled Gradient Hydrogels Reveal Matrix-Dependent Cell Responses to Substrate Stiffness.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Article
- Leveraging crosslinker diffusion to template stiffness gradients in alginate hydrogels.Biomedical materials (Bristol, England) · 2025Article
- The formin FMNL2 plays a role in the response of melanoma cells to substrate stiffness.BMC molecular and cell biology · 2025Article
- Force-activated zyxin assemblies coordinate actin nucleation and crosslinking to orchestrate stress fiber repair.Current biology : CB · 2025Article
- Tissue stiffness heterogeneity in the jaw and temporomandibular joint: its impact on tumor metabolism and considerations forFrontiers in physiology · 2025Review
- Insights into the mechanisms, regulation, and therapeutic implications of extracellular matrix stiffness in cancer.Bioengineering & translational medicine · 2025Review
- Force-activated zyxin assemblies coordinate actin nucleation and crosslinking to orchestrate stress fiber repair.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- The Arp2/3 complex enhances cell migration on elastic substrates.Molecular biology of the cell · 2023Article
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7 authors.
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Abstract
Durotaxis, migration of cells directed by a stiffness gradient, is critical in development and disease. To distinguish durotaxis-specific migration mechanisms from those on uniform substrate stiffnesses, we engineered an all-in-one photopolymerized hydrogel system containing areas of stiffness gradients with dual slopes (steep and shallow), adjacent to uniform stiffness (soft and stiff) regions. While fibroblasts rely on nonmuscle myosin II (NMII) activity and the LIM-domain protein Zyxin, ROCK and the Arp2/3 complex are surprisingly dispensable for durotaxis on either stiffness gradient. Additionally, loss of either actin-elongator Formin-like 3 (FMNL3) or actin-bundler fascin has little impact on durotactic response on stiffness gradients. However, lack of Arp2/3 activity results in a filopodia-based durotactic migration that is equally as efficient as that of lamellipodia-based durotactic migration. Importantly, we uncover essential and specific roles for FMNL3 and fascin in the formation and asymmetric distribution of filopodia during filopodia-based durotaxis response to the stiffness gradients. Together, our tunable all-in-one hydrogel system serves to identify both conserved as well as distinct molecular mechanisms that underlie mechano-responses of cells experiencing altered slopes of stiffness gradients.
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