Myofibroblasts are critical for connective tissue remodeling and wound healing since they can close wound beds and shape tissues rapidly by generating high traction forces and secreting abundant extracellular matrix proteins and matrix metalloproteinases.
Besides Rho-GTPase-controlled actin rearrangements, cell morphology might also be influenced by deregulated FA-based cell adhesion resulting in the development of high traction forces on both cell poles and in a drastic cell elongation (Fig. 2A).
Consequently, the spreading areas gradually became smaller than those on QNP with increasing incubation up to 45 h due to the higher traction force acting on SiNW arrays.
Traction duration did not correlate with pudendal nerve injury (2.6 hours vs 2.8 hours, p = 0.15) but a significantly higher traction force was found in affected patients (73.3 kg-hours vs 34.9 kg-hours, p < 0.03): they concluded that magnitude rather than duration of traction predisposed to injury of the pudendal nerve.
In general, cells on stiffer (35 kPa) substrates exerted higher traction forces compared to cells on softer (8 kPa) substrates.
The tensegrity model was verified to have several features consistent with living cells, such as cell stiffening or softening, high-traction force with microtubules disruption, and non-liner mechanical responses [1], [2], [7], [15], [17], [20], [21], [26], [33], [34].
During acceleration high traction power is needed while when cruising with constant speed traction power is only needed to overcome the resistance forces.
Increased stiffness of the surrounding ECM evokes a reinforcement of focal adhesions and increased RhoA-mediated actomyosin contraction, ultimately leading to cell protrusions, high-traction forces, and elongated cell shapes [ 21].
Sabass, B., Gardel, M. L., Waterman, C. M. & Schwarz, U. S. High resolution traction force microscopy based on experimental and computational advances.
