Vimentin Intermediate Filaments Mediate Cell Morphology on Viscoelastic Substrates
Maxx Swoger, Sarthak Gupta, Elisabeth E. Charrier, Michael Bates, Heidi Hehnly, Alison E. Patteson
Abstract
tissues. Using wild-type and vimentin-null mouse embryonic fibroblasts, we show that vimentin enhances cell spreading on viscoelastic substrates, even though it has little effect in the limit of purely elastic substrates. Our results provide compelling evidence that vimentin modulates how cells sense and respond to their environment and thus plays a key role in cell mechanosensing.
Topics & Concepts
VimentinCytoskeletonCell biologyIntermediate filamentExtracellular matrixActinSelf-healing hydrogelsMicrotubuleCellFibroblastBiologyChemistryCell cultureImmunologyGeneticsImmunohistochemistryOrganic chemistryCellular Mechanics and InteractionsSkin and Cellular Biology ResearchSilk-based biomaterials and applications