RESEARCH ARTICLE
Cyclic Force Applied to FAs Induces Actin Recruitment Depending on the Dynamic Loading Pattern
Y Ueki1, 2, N Sakamoto1, M Sato*, 1, 3
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2010Volume: 4
First Page: 129
Last Page: 134
Publisher ID: TOBEJ-4-129
DOI: 10.2174/1874120701004010129
Article History:
Received Date: 3/2/2010Revision Received Date: 3/5/2010
Acceptance Date: 8/5/2010
Electronic publication date: 9/7/2010
Collection year: 2010
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited
Abstract
Mechanical forces acting on focal adhesions (FAs) are believed to be an important determinant for cytoskeletal reorganization. However, the effect of the temporal pattern of forces on cellular responses has not been elucidated. In the present study, we examined the responses of FAs to locally-applied cyclic forces. Magnetic micro beads coated with fibronectin were attached to the apical surface of endothelial cells and continuous or cyclic forces at frequencies of 0.1-10 Hz with duty cycles of 0-100% were applied to the beads using a newly developed electromagnetic tweezer. A significant increase in actin recruitment around the beads was observed when cyclic forces at 1-2 Hz and 25-50% duty cycles were applied. This tendency disappeared upon modification of myosin activity. These results indicate that the sensitivity to temporal patterns of forces is detemined by the viscoelastic properes of FAs and depends on myosin activity.