title: Patterned hydrogels for simplified measurement of cell traction forces.
abstract: To understand mechanobiology, a quantitative understanding of how cells interact mechanically with their environment is needed. Cell mechanics is important to study as they play a role in cell behaviors ranging from cell signaling to epithelial to mesenchymal transition in physiological processes such as development and cancer. To study changes in cell contractile behavior, numerous quantitative measurement techniques have been developed based on the measurement of deformations of a substrate from an initial state. Herein, we present details on a technique we have developed for the measurements of 2D cellular traction forces with the goal of facilitating adaptation of this technique by other investigators. This technique is flexible in that it utilizes well-studied methods for microcontact printing and fabrication of polyacrylamide hydrogels to generate regular arrays of patterns that can be transferred onto the hydrogels. From the deformation of the arrays, an automated algorithm can be used to quantitatively determine the traction forces exerted by the cells onto the adhesion points. The simplicity and flexibility of this technique make it a useful contribution to our toolbox for measurement of cell traction forces.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Samuel R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Polio
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D001703:Biophysics; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology*; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003599:Cytoskeleton; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry*; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013499:Surface Properties; D000099166:Polyacrylamides
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins; D020100:Hydrogels; D000099166:Polyacrylamides
keywords: Cell adhesion; Cellular traction force; Crosstalk; Extracellular matrix (ECM); Microcontact printing; Traction force microscopy