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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Mar 27.
Published in final edited form as: Langmuir. 2012 Jan 20;28(12):5379–5386. doi: 10.1021/la203725a

Figure 3.

Figure 3

Directional force on an integrin as a function of the smallest distance between the collagen and the cell membrane’s ground state, without detachment. The fairly simple relationship is due purely to the elasticity of the membrane and the amount of membrane available for stretching. The separate lines are for various distances between the integrin and the membrane pinning position (in both x and y coordinates); 56 nm is the precise center of the fluctuating membrane. This force is in the extracellular direction (towards the fiber), so very close fibers which actually push the membrane away show negative forces.