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. 2011 Sep 1;6(9):e24029. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0024029

Figure 8. Effects of inhibition of pericellular collagenolysis on active cell forces (Fc) in stress-strain profiles of 3D tissue constructs.

Figure 8

Embryonic fibroblasts from BALBC (MEF), MT1-MMP wild type (MT1-WT) or MT1-MMP knockout (MT1-KO) mice were cultured in either wild type (WT, black lines) or collagenase resistant (RR, red lines) mouse tail collagens. Each plot is the average of 6–8 tissue samples and the presented differences are highly significant (P<0.001). The results show a consistent reduction in force upon inhibition of collagenolysis either with MMP inhibitor Galardin (GM), use of collagenase resistant collagen or elimination of membrane tethered collagenase MT1-MMP (MT1-KO). Importantly, Galardin has no effect on the force when used to inhibit MMPs in MEF cells on the background of RR collagen (p = 0.78). Fc = Ft–Fm.