ArticleScience advances2024
Stiffness anisotropy coordinates supracellular contractility driving long-range myotube-ECM alignment.
Article in Science advances, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Longitudinal Assessment of Quantitative Metrics for Skeletal Muscle Health Using 3D Rotational Shear Wave Elasticity Imaging in the Vastus Lateralis.Ultrasound in medicine & biology · 2026Article
- Reprogramming the Tumor Oncobiosphere: Bioactive Nanohybrid Materials for Reversing Therapeutic Pseudo-Resistance.ACS omega · 2026Review
- Active Microrheology Reveals Distinct ECM Mechanical Signatures Induced by Stromal Cells of Different Tissue Origins during Vascular Morphogenesis.ACS biomaterials science & engineering · 2026Article
- Engineering and Exploring Hydrolytic Degradation in 3D-Printed Liquid Crystalline Elastomers.Biomacromolecules · 2026Article
- Emergent directional persistence in fibrous granular scaffolds guides myotube organization.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- TGFβ1-loaded extracellular matrix hydrogels promote skeletal muscle stem cell regeneration via m6A-mediated integrin-ERK signaling.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Article
- Article
- From a stem-cell-centered to a niche-centered view: the core role of collagen networks in hair loss and hair follicle miniaturization.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Review
- Prolonged Cell Encapsulation and Gravity-independent Filamented Light Biofabrication of Muscle Constructs.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Shaping 3D minimal model tissues with mechanical constraints to orchestrate muscle differentiation.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Transcriptome Analysis of Differentially Expressed Genes and Molecular Pathways Involved in C2C12 Cells Myogenic Differentiation.Molecular biotechnology · 2025Article
- Capturing nematic order on tissue surfaces of arbitrary geometry.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Anisotropic liquid crystalline hydrogels direct 2D and 3D myoblast alignment.Advanced functional materials · 2025Article
- Construction of a Biomimetic Tubular Scaffold Inspired by Sea Sponge Structure: Sponge-Like Framework and Cell Guidance.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- The important role of cellular mechanical microenvironment in engineering structured cultivated meat: Recent advances.Current research in food science · 2024Review
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10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The ability of cells to organize into tissues with proper structure and function requires the effective coordination of proliferation, migration, polarization, and differentiation across length scales. Skeletal muscle is innately anisotropic; however, few biomaterials can emulate mechanical anisotropy to determine its influence on tissue patterning without introducing confounding topography. Here, we demonstrate that substrate stiffness anisotropy coordinates contractility-driven collective cellular dynamics resulting in C2C12 myotube alignment over millimeter-scale distances. When cultured on mechanically anisotropic liquid crystalline polymer networks (LCNs) lacking topography, C2C12 myoblasts collectively polarize in the stiffest direction. Cellular coordination is amplified through reciprocal cell-ECM dynamics that emerge during fusion, driving global myotube-ECM ordering. Conversely, myotube alignment was restricted to small local domains with no directional preference on mechanically isotropic LCNs of the same chemical formulation. These findings provide valuable insights for designing biomaterials that mimic anisotropic microenvironments and underscore the importance of stiffness anisotropy in orchestrating tissue morphogenesis.
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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.