Figure 3:

Mechanoresponse of Huh7 cells on elastic and viscoelastic gel substrates. (A) schematic of the materials and cell response. Elastic cross-linked networks (left) and viscoelastic networks (right) have been made using linear (red) and crosslinked (blue) polyacrylamide. Bright-field images of Huh7 cells plated on elastic (upper panel) and viscoelastic (lower panel) substrates. Images are representative of 1 hr time interval (1 hr, 2 hrs, 3 hrs, 4 hrs). Scale bar, 10 μm. (B) Time evolution of cell areas (left) on elastic (black) and viscoelastic (orange) substrates. Error bars represent standard error of the mean (N=15 cells on each substrate). (C) Frequency count of exponents obtained from individual cell spreading area growth curve fitting to a power law model. (D) Huh7 cell areas on elastic and viscoelastic substrates after at 4 hrs. Error bars represent standard error of the mean (N=15 cells on each substrate substrates respectively). p-values are determined from Student’s t-test for unpaired samples f (** p<0.005; * p<0.05).