ReviewCellular and molecular bioengineering2024
Field Guide to Traction Force Microscopy.
Review in Cellular and molecular bioengineering, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Optical Detection of Cellular Signals at Material Interfaces.Advanced healthcare materials · 2026Review
- Mechanical polarity links adhesion-regulated protrusions to directional stability in glioblastoma cell migration.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Cellular Responses to Mechanical Cues Across Scales: From Fundamental Insights to Translational Potential.Advanced healthcare materials · 2026Review
- 3D Contractile and Remodeling Behaviors of Functionally Normal and Prolapsed Human Mitral Valve Interstitial Cells.Annals of biomedical engineering · 2026Article
- Traction Force Microscopy for Viscoelastic Substrates: A Semi-Analytical Method.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Double Sided Traction Force Microscopy: A Method to Confine Cells for Physiologically Relevant Force Measurements.Cytoskeleton (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2026Article
- Endothelial cell stiffness and type drive the formation of biomechanically induced transcellular pores.Cell reports · 2026Article
- Linking molecular tension and cellular tractions: a multiscale approach to focal adhesion mechanics.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Dimensional memory in glioblastoma mechanics: Traction force analysis of cells cultured in 2D versus 3D collagen environments.Bioactive materials · 2026Article
- Measurement of cellular traction forces during confined migration.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- 3D force microscopy for volumetric quantification of ultrasound-induced loading: applications for bone repair.Biomechanics and modeling in mechanobiology · 2025Article
- 3D Contractile and Remodeling Behaviors of Functionally Normal and Prolapsed Human Mitral Valve Interstitial Cells.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Anisotropic liquid crystalline hydrogels direct 2D and 3D myoblast alignment.Advanced functional materials · 2025Article
- Uncertainty-aware traction force microscopy.PLoS computational biology · 2025Article
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.
Funding
Abstract
Introduction: Traction force microscopy (TFM) is a widely used technique to measure cell contractility on compliant substrates that mimic the stiffness of human tissues. For every step in a TFM workflow, users make choices which impact the quantitative results, yet many times the rationales and consequences for making these decisions are unclear. We have found few papers which show the complete experimental and mathematical steps of TFM, thus obfuscating the full effects of these decisions on the final output. Methods: Therefore, we present this "Field Guide" with the goal to explain the mathematical basis of common TFM methods to practitioners in an accessible way. We specifically focus on how errors propagate in TFM workflows given specific experimental design and analytical choices. Results: We cover important assumptions and considerations in TFM substrate manufacturing, substrate mechanical properties, imaging techniques, image processing methods, approaches and parameters used in calculating traction stress, and data-reporting strategies. Conclusions: By presenting a conceptual review and analysis of TFM-focused research articles published over the last two decades, we provide researchers in the field with a better understanding of their options to make more informed choices when creating TFM workflows depending on the type of cell being studied. With this review, we aim to empower experimentalists to quantify cell contractility with confidence. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12195-024-00801-6.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.