title: Cooperative contractility: the role of stress fibres in the regulation of cell-cell junctions.
abstract: We present simulations of cell-cell adhesion as reported in a recent study [Liu et al., 2010, PNAS, 107(22), 9944-9] for two cells seeded on an array of micro-posts. The micro-post array allows for the measurement of forces exerted by the cell and these show that the cell-cell tugging stress is a constant and independent of the cell-cell junction area. In the current study, we demonstrate that a material model which includes the underlying cellular processes of stress fibre contractility and adhesion formation can capture these results. The simulations explain the experimentally observed phenomena whereby the cell-cell junction forces increase with junction size but the tractions exerted by the cell on the micro-post array are independent of the junction size. Further simulations on different types of micro-post arrays and cell phenotypes are presented as a guide to future experiments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, National University of Ireland Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland; Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK. Electronic address: wr247@eng.cam.ac.uk.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ronan
authors.affiliation: Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Materials, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5070, USA; School of Engineering, University of Aberdeen King׳s College, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, Scotland.
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: McMeeking
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA; Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, National University of Ireland Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland.
authors.forename: J Patrick
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: McGarry
authors.affiliation: Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK.
authors.forename: Vikram S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Deshpande
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000502:physiology; D002468:Cell Physiological Phenomena / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D006801:Humans; D007365:Intercellular Junctions / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D022502:Stress Fibers / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Cell-cell junctions; Junction force; Mechanotransduction; Myosin contractility; Stress fibre