Fig. 2.

Simulation examples. An initial 3D uniform fiber network is generated without any applied loading forces. Dynamic pulling forces are then applied to fiber segments that are close to the cell surface (within 2 µm of the left surface). After a loading period, applied forces are stopped to allow for network relaxation. ECMs with different R_P’s (ratio of permanent crosslinks to total crosslinks) exhibit different amounts of remodeling and nonelastic accumulation. The total number of crosslinks is constant. ECM fibers are color-coded by tension based on the color bar at the right (from −300 to + 300 pN). Yellow points are crosslinks. The left and right surfaces are hard boundaries (fibers cannot go through them). Fibers segments that are at the right surface are bound to it. The other four boundaries are periodic. The simulation domain is 20 × 20 × 20 µm³. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)