Figure 1.

Schematic of cell adhesion. Cell adhesion is a complex process that can be divided into different phases. A floating cell (1) can physically contact with the substrate. In the first phase of cell–matrix interaction (2) the cell adheres passively and starts sensing the substrate. This phase is guided by gravity and followed by cell reshaping and the concomitant adhesion processes (3), resulting in an immature form of the focal adhesions (4). These structures are macromolecular complexes connecting the extracellular matrix to the cytoskeleton, the scaffold of the cell. A number of docking and shuttling proteins are involved in such a process.