Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 3
Simulations of Cell Behavior on Substrates
of Variegated Stiffness and Architecture
Amit Pathak, Vikram S. Deshpande, Anthony G. Evans,
and Robert M. McMeeking
Abstract
Several experimental studies have shown that cells adhered to stiffer sub-
strates exert higher traction forces and simultaneously form more prominent focal
adhesions and stress fibers. We employ a biochemomechanical model implemented
in a finite element framework to simulate cell response on substrates of variegated
stiffness and architecture. We perform simulations to generate stress fiber and focal
adhesion distributions, and predict the values of forces generated by cells adhered on
flat gels and on beds of micro-posts of variegated stiffness. We also demonstrate that
our predictions agree well with the available experimental measurements obtained
with the same cell-substrate setting. For a given, calibrated set of model parame-
ters, our traction force predictions for cells adhered to post-beds of varying stiffness
match with measurements from Saez et al. (Biophys. J. 89:L52-L54,
2005
). Actin
and focal adhesion distributions obtained from our simulations agree well with the
patterns observed in the results of various visualization experiments available in the
literature. Taken together, these findings suggest that our model captures well the
A.G. Evans deceased.
A. Pathak
·
A.G. Evans
·
R.M. McMeeking (
)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
e-mail:
rmcm@engineering.ucsb.edu
A. Pathak
e-mail:
amitp@berkeley.edu
V.S. Deshpande
Engineering Department, Cambridge University, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK
e-mail:
vsd@eng.cam.ac.uk
A.G. Evans
R.M. McMeeking
Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
·
R.M. McMeeking
School of Engineering, King's College, Aberdeen University, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, UK
R.M. McMeeking
INM—Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Campus D2 2, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
