How cells align to structured collagen fibrils: a hybrid cellular Potts and molecular dynamics model with dynamic mechanosensitive focal adhesions.

Many mammalian cells, including endothelial cells and fibroblasts, align and elongate along the orientation of extracellular matrix (ECM) fibers in a gel when cultured . During cell elongation, clusters of focal adhesions (FAs) form near the poles of the elongating cells. FAs are mechanosensitive clusters of adhesions that grow under mechanical tension exerted by the cells' pulling on the ECM and shrink when the tension is released.

Hybrid cellular Potts and bead-spring modeling of cells in fibrous extracellular matrix.

The mechanical interaction between cells and the extracellular matrix (ECM) is fundamental to coordinate collective cell behavior in tissues. Relating individual cell-level mechanics to tissue-scale collective behavior is a challenge that cell-based models such as the cellular Potts model (CPM) are well-positioned to address. These models generally represent the ECM with mean-field approaches, which assume substrate homogeneity.