English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

For many decades, scientists have studied the cell’s ability to sense and respond to mechanical force. Recent advances in assaying cells using increasingly complex mechanical environments have lead to new insights into cellular function (1). Mechanical force plays a critical role within cells and has the capacity to affect diverse problems ranging from environmental change (2) to malaria (3). The importance of biomechanical forces is particularly apparent in many human diseases, such as heart disease and cancer (1). In PNAS, Hur et al. (4) describe an elegant, 3D force analysis approach they use to investigate cell mechanics that have important implications in atherosclerosis. A central tenet in the study of cell mechanics holds that cells remain in constant communication with each other while thriving in environments that are ultimately 3D. Although the link between cellular communication and 3D forces has been appreciated, the vast majority of experiments that use cultured animal cells continue to be conducted on planar substrates (e.g., Petri dishes) that are effectively 2D environments, primarily because robustly controlling the 3D microenvironment of cells is not trivial. Hur et al. use a unique method, 3D inter/intracellular force microscopy (IFM). Building off their recent results in expanding 2D traction force microscopy (TFM) to analyze 3D stresses, the authors use IFM to examine 3D tension across individual cell bodies and at the junction between cells. In these experiments, endothelial cells—the type of cells that line blood vessels—are grown both sparsely and also in confluent monolayers, where communication between many cells must occur, to examine differences in each condition. Using their IFM approach, the authors recover information normally lost in 2D systems, with profound implications when examining inter- and intracellular tension in these multicellular systems. In addition, the authors expose endothelial cells to shear stress by flowing fluid on their apical …

Cells gain traction in 3D