Fig. 4.

Substrate elastic modulus influences A1 and H1 cell morphology. (A) The mean cell area of cells cultured on plastic substrates are significantly greater than those of cells cultured on 2, 5, 15, and 50 kPa substrates. (B) Eccentricity measurements revealed that cells cultured on plastic substrates are for the most part significantly rounder, or more evenly spread out. (C) Branching quantification revealed that, in general, cells cultured on 2 and 5 kPa substrates were significantly more branched than other groups. (Due the large amount of data in (C), all statistical comparisons shown should be assumed as *, unless otherwise noted.) (D) Schematic illustrating how cells were assumed to be elliptical in shape. Significance: *: p<0.05; **: p<0.01. Exceptions were 50 kPa versus plastic on day 7 (A1), and 2 kPa versus plastic on day 1 (H1).