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Updated: Mar 31, 2026

A Simplified System for Evaluating Cell Mechanosensing and Durotaxis In Vitro
Published on: August 27, 2015
Mechanosensing in cell-matrix adhesions - Converting tension into chemical signals
Vesa P Hytönen1, Bernhard Wehrle-Haller2
1BioMediTech, University of Tampere, Biokatu 6, FI-33520 Tampere, Finland; Fimlab Laboratories, Biokatu 4, FI-33520 Tampere, Finland.
Abstract:
Cell-matrix adhesions have since long been recognized to be critical for the survival and proliferation of cells. In fact, these adhesive structures do not only physically anchor cells, but they also induce vital intracellular signaling at cell-matrix adhesion sites. Recent progress in the cell adhesion field is now starting to provide data and ideas how this so far enigmatic signaling process is induced and regulated by intracellular acto-myosin tension, or stiffness of the extracellular matrix. Understanding how cells are using this mechanosignaling system will be key to control biological processes such as development, cancer growth, metastasis formation and tissue regeneration. In this review, we illustrate and discuss the mechanosignaling mechanisms important in the regulation of cell-matrix adhesions at the molecular level.
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