Figure 5.

Measurement of the traction force and in-plane stresses in the cell layer. (A) Phase-contrast images of cells on ring patterns on 10 kPa and 30 kPa gels. The vectorial representation of the maximum principal stress is given to show the orientation of cells relative to the stress tensor. (B) Color maps and vectorial representation of traction on ring patterns of two different stiffnesses, showing that the traction is generally in the radial direction. (C) Vectorial representation of the in-plane maximum principal stress on ring patterns of two different stiffnesses, calculated based on the measurement of the traction force. (D) Vectorial representation of the in-plane minimum principal stress. (E) Color maps of the in-plane maximum shear stress. (F) Color maps of the displacement fields of the ring substrates for the 10 kPa gel and the 30 kPa gel. (G) Radial component of traction as a function of the cell distance from the center of the ring pattern for the two different substrate stiffnesses, where the solid lines represent model predictions, and the dots represent experimental measurements. (H) In-plane maximum principal stress as a function of the cell distance from the center of the ring pattern, where the solid lines represent model predictions and the dots represent calculations based on experimental measurements of traction. (I) The in-plane minimum principal stress; (J) the in-plane maximum shear stress. To see this figure in color, go online.