Judith Su∗, Xingyu Jiang†, Roy Welsch‡, George M. Whitesides§, Peter T. C. So¶
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.4, No.2, pp. 87-104, 2007, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2007.004.087
Abstract Interactions between the cell and the extracellular matrix regulate a variety of cellular properties and functions, including cellular rheology. In the present study of cellular adhesion, area was controlled by confining NIH 3T3 fibroblast cells to circular micropatterned islands of defined size. The shear moduli of cells adhering to islands of well defined geometry, as measured by magnetic microrheometry, was found to have a significantly lower variance than those of cells allowed to spread on unpatterned surfaces. We observe that the area of cellular adhesion influences shear modulus. Rheological measurements further indicate that cellular shear… More >