FIGURE 5.

Illustration depicting the proposed mechanism of cell interaction with nano-architecture surface. Left box: Protein (rainbow colored strands) adsorption and unfolding onto the nano-architecture surface will initiate subsequent cellular signaling. The unfolding of the protein will expose more functional groups for cell signaling and initiation of molecular pathways. Integrin proteins (red and green) found on the tip of filopodia will sense the protein conformation on the surface. Middle box: Integrin binding to adhered surface proteins will transmit force across the cell membrane through FAK (blue rectangle) and other adapter proteins (pink, green, brown, and orange). These proteins then bind to actin in the cytoskeleton (dark blue strands) and transmit force to the intermediate filaments (light blue strands) which send the transmitted force to the cell nucleus. Right box: The final morphology of the cell and the cell nucleus are altered, thus effecting the downstream phenotype of the cell.