Center or periphery? Modeling the effects of focal adhesion placement during cell spreading.

Focal adhesions are often observed at the cell's periphery. We provide an explanation for this observation using a system-level mathematical model of a cell interacting with a two-dimensional substrate. The model describes the biological cell as a hypoelastic continuum material whose behavior i...

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Main Authors: Magdalena A Stolarska, Aravind R Rammohan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2017-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0171430&type=printable
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author Magdalena A Stolarska
Aravind R Rammohan
author_facet Magdalena A Stolarska
Aravind R Rammohan
author_sort Magdalena A Stolarska
collection DOAJ
description Focal adhesions are often observed at the cell's periphery. We provide an explanation for this observation using a system-level mathematical model of a cell interacting with a two-dimensional substrate. The model describes the biological cell as a hypoelastic continuum material whose behavior is coupled to a deformable, linear elastic substrate via focal adhesions that are represented by collections of linear elastic attachments between the cell and the substrate. The evolution of the focal adhesions is coupled to local intracellular stresses which arise from mechanical cell-substrate interactions. Using this model we show that the cell has at least three mechanisms through which it can control its intracellular stresses: focal adhesion position, size, and attachment strength. We also propose that one reason why focal adhesions are typically located on the cell periphery instead of its center is because peripheral focal adhesions allow the cell to be more sensitive to changes in the microenvironment. This increased sensitivity is caused by the fact that peripherally located focal adhesions allow the cells to modulate its intracellular properties over a much larger portion of the cell area.
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spelling doaj-art-6bd3eccc3bd142adbc19b6fef2fbdea72025-08-20T02:45:19ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032017-01-01122e017143010.1371/journal.pone.0171430Center or periphery? Modeling the effects of focal adhesion placement during cell spreading.Magdalena A StolarskaAravind R RammohanFocal adhesions are often observed at the cell's periphery. We provide an explanation for this observation using a system-level mathematical model of a cell interacting with a two-dimensional substrate. The model describes the biological cell as a hypoelastic continuum material whose behavior is coupled to a deformable, linear elastic substrate via focal adhesions that are represented by collections of linear elastic attachments between the cell and the substrate. The evolution of the focal adhesions is coupled to local intracellular stresses which arise from mechanical cell-substrate interactions. Using this model we show that the cell has at least three mechanisms through which it can control its intracellular stresses: focal adhesion position, size, and attachment strength. We also propose that one reason why focal adhesions are typically located on the cell periphery instead of its center is because peripheral focal adhesions allow the cell to be more sensitive to changes in the microenvironment. This increased sensitivity is caused by the fact that peripherally located focal adhesions allow the cells to modulate its intracellular properties over a much larger portion of the cell area.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0171430&type=printable
spellingShingle Magdalena A Stolarska
Aravind R Rammohan
Center or periphery? Modeling the effects of focal adhesion placement during cell spreading.
PLoS ONE
title Center or periphery? Modeling the effects of focal adhesion placement during cell spreading.
title_full Center or periphery? Modeling the effects of focal adhesion placement during cell spreading.
title_fullStr Center or periphery? Modeling the effects of focal adhesion placement during cell spreading.
title_full_unstemmed Center or periphery? Modeling the effects of focal adhesion placement during cell spreading.
title_short Center or periphery? Modeling the effects of focal adhesion placement during cell spreading.
title_sort center or periphery modeling the effects of focal adhesion placement during cell spreading
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0171430&type=printable
work_keys_str_mv AT magdalenaastolarska centerorperipherymodelingtheeffectsoffocaladhesionplacementduringcellspreading
AT aravindrrammohan centerorperipherymodelingtheeffectsoffocaladhesionplacementduringcellspreading