Figure 3.

Cell response to local fiber stiffness. a) Schematic image shows how cells response to soft fibers. b) Soft local stiffness increases ability of cells to deform and recruit fibers, thus enhancing concentration of local ligand and activating FAs and related cellular signals to induce cell spreading. c) Cells deform collagen fibers to form bundled structure. Reproduced with permission.24 Copyright 2017, Nature Publishing Group. d) Cells failed to spread on substrate with low bulk stiffness, in contrast, increasing fiber stiffness suppressed cell spreading. Reproduced with permission.25 Copyright 2015, Nature Publishing Group.