Rigidity sensing explained by active matter theory

TL;DR

This paper explains how cells sense substrate stiffness through active matter theory, showing that traction forces increase with medium stiffness due to the interaction of passive elasticity and active contractility.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework combining active matter and elasticity to explain cellular rigidity sensing.

Findings

Traction forces increase monotonically with substrate stiffness

Active matter theory captures the sigmoidal force response

Adaptation involves interplay between passive elasticity and active contractility

Abstract

The magnitude of traction forces exerted by living animal cells on their environment is a monotonically increasing and approximately sigmoidal function of the stiffness of the external medium. This observation is rationalized using active matter theory: adaptation to substrate rigidity results from an interplay between passive elasticity and active contractility.