Figure 9.

Mechanical microenvironments. (A) Durotaxis of fibroblasts on a microelastic polyacrylamide gradient gel. Manipulation of the elasticity jumps affects cell migration speed and mechanotaxis efficiency. (B) Characteristic alignment of C2C12 cells on a grooved microfluidic channel substrate. Depending on the orientation of the flow and the geometry of the grooved substrate, cultured cells orient into characteristic 3D cellular constructs. Aligned C2C12 3D cellular constructs showed enhanced differentiation into skeletal muscles than randomly aligned cells. (C) Micropillar arrays allow for the monitoring of cell contraction forces as well as for the investigation of the force directionality of cells grown on the micropillar substrates. (D) Application of a vacuum allows for the mimicking of the breathing motions in the lung. Modulated strain on the artificial alveolus affects cancer cell proliferation and migration. (A) Adapted with permission from ref (124). Copyright 2008 Elsevier. (B) Adapted with permission from ref (28). Copyright 2013 Royal Society of Chemistry. (C) Adapted from ref (131). Copyright 2012 Royal Society of Chemistry.