Figure 9.

The effects of network connectivity on the model outcomes. (a–d) SEDs occurring around two neighboring contracting cells (here, the cell-to-cell distance is 3.4 cell diameters) for 25% contraction and two levels of network connectivity (C = 3.5, 5.0) are shown. Plots show linear ((a) and (c)) and nonlinear (buckling + strain stiffening; (b) and (d)) model variants. Equivalent plots produced for all four material models are shown in the Supporting Information available online (Fig. S10). (e–h) Bar charts demonstrating the effects of the level of network connectivity on the directionality ratios of tensile strains (e) and SEDs (f) and fiber density (g) and orientation (h) within the intercellular region of the matrix for all four material models at a cell-to-cell distance of 3.4 cell diameters, are shown. For a full-color version of this figure, the reader is referred to the online version of the article.