Dresden 2009 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 19: Cell Adhesion

BP 19.6: Talk

Thursday, March 26, 2009, 12:15–12:30, ZEU 260

Correlation of Stress Fibre Pattern and Cell Morphology of Adherent Cells: Experiment and Modelling — •Jörg Meyer, Carsten Werner, and Tilo Pompe — Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research, Dresden, Germany

Cell morphology is known to play a key role in proliferation and differentiation of anchorage dependent cells. In this context the cytoskeleton acts as a mechanical signal transducer for exogenous and endogenous signals. In order to better understand the biophysical processes regulating cell morphology and intracellular stresses we cultured human endothelial cells on micropatterned surfaces. Cell elongation was tuned by adhesion promoting fibronectin stripes of 5 to 40 μm in width. Using autocorrelation image analysis the stress fibre spacing was determined to exhibit a strong discontinuity with a maximum at 15 μm of stripe width. Below this critical value the spacing of actin stress fibres, bundled near the cell edge parallel to the stripe direction, was linearly dependent on stripe width. Above the threshold actin stress fibre spacing mainly remained constant at around 2 μm. Interestingly, we found a similar dependence with a discontinuity at 15 μm of stripe width for the surface area of adherent cells using a finite element model of a liquid drop spreading on adhesive stripes. Total surface area as well as basal contact area of the cell to the stripe correlated to the stress fibre pattern and suggested membrane tension or cell adhesion receptor activation as biochemical triggers for the cytoskeletal arrangement and force distribution inside adherent cells.