Figure 4:

Huh7 cell dynamics. (A) Bright-field image of Huh7 cell (left) showing cell position at 0 hr. (upper panel) and at 4 hr (lower panel) on elastic and viscoelastic substrate s. Scale bar, 10 μm. Net displacement of cells on elastic and viscoelastic substrates. Error bars represent standard error of the mean (N=15 cells on each substrate). Each data point represents 5 mins. (B) Cell migration speed and persistence calculated on elastic (blue) and viscoelastic (green) substrates during a 4hr period. (C) Bright field image of cell protrusions. (D) and (E) cell protrusions are quantified during cell spreading and average protrusion length determined after 4 hrs on both elastic (black) and viscoelastic (orange) substrates (N=80, N=83 cells respectively). Bright field images (left) show protrusion during spreading, percentage of cells with protrusion (middle) quantified every hour over 4 hrs, average protrusion length (right). (F) traction stress map. (G) Cell traction dynamics on both elastic (black) and viscoelastic (orange) substrates (N=13 cells for each). Force percentage calculated with reference to traction force at 30 min. (H) Average cell traction stress after 4hrs calculated on elastic (black) and viscoelastic (orange) substrates with error bars represent standard error of the mean (N=23 and N=27 cells on elastic and viscoelastic substrates respectively). p-values are determined from Student’s t-test for unpaired samples with respect to control cells (*** p<0.0001, n.s p> 0.1).