scholarly journals A Focal Adhesion Filament Cross-correlation Kit for fast, automated segmentation and correlation of focal adhesions and actin stress fibers in cells

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara Hauke ◽  
Shwetha Narasimhan ◽  
Andreas Primeßnig ◽  
Irina Kaverina ◽  
Florian Rehfeldt
Keyword(s):  
Extracellular Matrix ◽  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Focal Adhesion ◽  
Cross Correlation ◽  
Focal Adhesions ◽  
Traction Force ◽  
Stress Fibers ◽  
Traction Force Microscopy ◽  
Force Microscopy ◽  
Actin Stress Fibers

AbstractFocal adhesions (FAs) and associated actin stress fibers (SFs) form a complex mechanical system that mediates bidirectional interactions between cells and their environment. This linked network is essential for mechanosensing, force production and force transduction, thus directly governing cellular processes like polarization, migration and extracellular matrix remodeling. We introduce a tool for fast and robust coupled analysis of both FAs and SFs named the Focal Adhesion Filament Cross-correlation Kit (FAFCK). Our software can detect and record location, axes lengths, area, orientation, and aspect ratio of focal adhesion structures as well as the location, length, width and orientation of actin stress fibers. This enables users to automate analysis of the correlation of FAs and SFs and study the stress fiber system in a higher degree, pivotal to accurately evaluate transmission of mechanocellular forces between a cell and its surroundings. The FAFCK is particularly suited for unbiased and systematic quantitative analysis of FAs and SFs necessary for novel approaches of traction force microscopy that uses the additional data from the cellular side to calculate the stress distribution in the substrate. For validation and comparison with other tools, we provide datasets of cells of varying quality that are labelled by a human expert. Datasets and FAFCK are freely available as open source under the GNU General Public License.Author summaryOur novel Focal Adhesion Filament Cross-correlation Kit (FAFCK) allows for fast, reliable, unbiased, and systematic detection of focal adhesions and actin stress fibers in cells and their mutual correlation. Detailed analysis of these structures which are both key elements in mechano-sensing and force transduction will help tremendously to improve quantitative analysis of mechanocellular experiments, key to understanding the complex interplay between cells and the extracellular matrix. In particular, sophisticated analysis methods such as model-based traction force microscopy will benefit from correlating the detailed datasets of stress fibers and focal adhesions.

scholarly journals A Focal Adhesion Filament Cross-correlation Kit for fast, automated segmentation and correlation of focal adhesions and actin stress fibers in cells

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. e0250749
Author(s):  
Lara Hauke ◽  
Shwetha Narasimhan ◽  
Andreas Primeßnig ◽  
Irina Kaverina ◽  
Florian Rehfeldt
Keyword(s):  
Focal Adhesion ◽  
Cross Correlation ◽  
Focal Adhesions ◽  
Force Production ◽  
Traction Force ◽  
Stress Fibers ◽  
Coupled Analysis ◽  
Matrix Remodeling ◽  
Fiber System ◽  
Actin Stress Fibers

Focal adhesions (FAs) and associated actin stress fibers (SFs) form a complex mechanical system that mediates bidirectional interactions between cells and their environment. This linked network is essential for mechanosensing, force production and force transduction, thus directly governing cellular processes like polarization, migration and extracellular matrix remodeling. We introduce a tool for fast and robust coupled analysis of both FAs and SFs named the Focal Adhesion Filament Cross-correlation Kit (FAFCK). Our software can detect and record location, axes lengths, area, orientation, and aspect ratio of focal adhesion structures as well as the location, length, width and orientation of actin stress fibers. This enables users to automate analysis of the correlation of FAs and SFs and study the stress fiber system in a higher degree, pivotal to accurately evaluate transmission of mechanocellular forces between a cell and its surroundings. The FAFCK is particularly suited for unbiased and systematic quantitative analysis of FAs and SFs necessary for novel approaches of traction force microscopy that uses the additional data from the cellular side to calculate the stress distribution in the substrate. For validation and comparison with other tools, we provide datasets of cells of varying quality that are labelled by a human expert. Datasets and FAFCK are freely available as open source under the GNU General Public License.

A Theoretical Model of Stretch-Induced Stress Fiber Remodeling

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Kaunas
Keyword(s):  
Focal Adhesion ◽  
Focal Adhesions ◽  
Dynamic Structure ◽  
Cytoskeletal Proteins ◽  
Stress Fibers ◽  
Cell Contractility ◽  
Maximum Stretch ◽  
Tensional Homeostasis ◽  
Tractional Forces ◽  
Actin Stress Fibers

Cyclic stretching of endothelial cells (ECs), such as occurs in arteries during the cardiac cycle, induces ECs and their actin stress fibers to orient perpendicular to the direction of maximum stretch. This perpendicular alignment response is strengthened by increasing the magnitudes of stretch and cell contractility (1). The actin cytoskeleton is a dynamic structure that regulates cell shape changes and mechanical properties. It has been shown that actin stress fibers are ‘prestretched’ under normal, non-perturbed, conditions (2), consistent with the ideas of ‘prestress’ that have motivated tensegrity cell models (3). It has also been shown that ‘tractional forces’ generated by cells at focal adhesions tend to increase proportionately with increasing focal adhesion area, thus suggesting that cells tend to maintain constant the stress borne by a focal adhesion (4). By implication, this suggests that cells try to maintain constant the stress in actin stress fibers. Thus, it seems that cells reorganize or turnover cytoskeletal proteins and adhesion complexes so as to maintain constant a preferred mechanical state. Mizutani et al. (5) referred to this as cellular tensional homeostasis, although they did not suggest a model or theory to account for this dynamic process.

scholarly journals ARF1 Mediates Paxillin Recruitment to Focal Adhesions and Potentiates Rho-stimulated Stress Fiber Formation in Intact and Permeabilized Swiss 3T3 Fibroblasts

1998 ◽  
Vol 143 (7) ◽  
pp. 1981-1995 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.C. Norman ◽  
D. Jones ◽  
S.T. Barry ◽  
M.R. Holt ◽  
S. Cockcroft ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Focal Adhesion ◽  
Focal Adhesions ◽  
Stress Fiber ◽  
Fiber Formation ◽  
Stress Fibers ◽  
3T3 Fibroblasts ◽  
Stress Fiber Formation ◽  
Swiss 3T3 ◽  
Swiss 3T3 Fibroblasts ◽  
Actin Stress Fibers

Focal adhesion assembly and actin stress fiber formation were studied in serum-starved Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts permeabilized with streptolysin-O. Permeabilization in the presence of GTPγS stimulated rho-dependent formation of stress fibers, and the redistribution of vinculin and paxillin from a perinuclear location to focal adhesions. Addition of GTPγS at 8 min after permeabilization still induced paxillin recruitment to focal adhesion–like structures at the ends of stress fibers, but vinculin remained in the perinuclear region, indicating that the distributions of these two proteins are regulated by different mechanisms. Paxillin recruitment was largely rho-independent, but could be evoked using constitutively active Q71L ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF1), and blocked by NH2-terminally truncated Δ17ARF1. Moreover, leakage of endogenous ARF from cells was coincident with loss of GTPγS- induced redistribution of paxillin to focal adhesions, and the response was recovered by addition of ARF1. The ability of ARF1 to regulate paxillin recruitment to focal adhesions was confirmed by microinjection of Q71LARF1 and Δ17ARF1 into intact cells. Interestingly, these experiments showed that V14RhoA- induced assembly of actin stress fibers was potentiated by Q71LARF1. We conclude that rho and ARF1 activate complimentary pathways that together lead to the formation of paxillin-rich focal adhesions at the ends of prominent actin stress fibers.

scholarly journals The biochemical composition of the actomyosin network sets the magnitude of cellular traction forces

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (18) ◽  
pp. 1737-1748
Author(s):  
Somanna Kollimada ◽  
Fabrice Senger ◽  
Timothée Vignaud ◽  
Manuel Théry ◽  
Laurent Blanchoin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Focal Adhesion ◽  
Biochemical Composition ◽  
Force Production ◽  
Traction Force ◽  
Traction Force Microscopy ◽  
Traction Forces ◽  
Force Microscopy ◽  
Cell Force

The endogenous content of proteins associated with force production and the resultant traction forces were quantified in the same cells using a new traction force-microscopy assay. Focal adhesion size correlated with force in stationary cells. Relative numbers of motors and cross-linkers per actin required an optimum to maximize cell force production.

scholarly journals Crosstalk between myosin II and formin functions in the regulation of force generation and actomyosin dynamics in stress fibers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yukako Nishimura ◽  
Shidong Shi ◽  
Qingsen Li ◽  
Alexander D. Bershadsky ◽  
Virgile Viasnoff
Keyword(s):  
Contractile Activity ◽  
Myosin Ii ◽  
Focal Adhesions ◽  
Traction Force ◽  
Stress Fiber ◽  
Force Generation ◽  
Stress Fibers ◽  
Force Microscopy ◽  
Fiber Dynamics ◽  
The Relationship

REF52 fibroblasts have a well-developed contractile machinery, the most prominent elements of which are actomyosin stress fibers with highly ordered organization of actin and myosin IIA filaments. The relationship between contractile activity and turnover dynamics of stress fibers is not sufficiently understood. Here, we simultaneously measured the forces exerted by stress fibers (using traction force microscopy or micropillar array sensors) and the dynamics of actin and myosin (using photoconversion-based monitoring of actin incorporation and high-resolution fluorescence microscopy of myosin II light chain). Our data revealed new features of the crosstalk between myosin II-driven contractility and stress fiber dynamics. During normal stress fiber turnover, actin incorporated all along the stress fibers and not only at focal adhesions. Incorporation of actin into stress fibers/focal adhesions, as well as actin and myosin II filaments flow along stress fibers, strongly depends on myosin II activity. Myosin II-dependent generation of traction forces does not depend on incorporation of actin into stress fibers per se, but still requires formin activity. This previously overlooked function of formins in maintenance of the actin cytoskeleton connectivity could be the main mechanism of formin involvement in traction force generation.

Traction Force Microscopy in 3‐Dimensional Extracellular Matrix Networks

2017 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Cóndor ◽  
J. Steinwachs ◽  
C. Mark ◽  
J.M. García‐Aznar ◽  
B. Fabry
Keyword(s):  
Extracellular Matrix ◽  
Traction Force ◽  
Traction Force Microscopy ◽  
3 Dimensional ◽  
Force Microscopy

Polychlorinated biphenyl quinone induces endothelial barrier dysregulation by setting the cross talk between VE-cadherin, focal adhesion, and MAPK signaling

2015 ◽  
Vol 308 (10) ◽  
pp. H1205-H1214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pu Zhang ◽  
Shan Feng ◽  
Huiyuan Bai ◽  
Panying Zeng ◽  
Feng Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Focal Adhesion ◽  
Cancer Metastasis ◽  
Polychlorinated Biphenyl ◽  
Adhesion Formation ◽  
Focal Adhesions ◽  
Mapk Signaling ◽  
Stress Fibers ◽  
Vascular Endothelial ◽  
Environmental Toxicants ◽  
Actin Stress Fibers

Environmental hazardous material polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure is associated with vascular endothelial dysfunction, which may increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancer metastasis. Our previous studies illustrated the cytotoxic, antiproliferative, and genotoxic effects of a synthetic, quinone-type, highly reactive metabolite of PCB, 2,3,5-trichloro-6-phenyl-[1,4]benzoquinone (PCB29-pQ). Here, we used it as the model compound to investigate its effects on vascular endothelial integrity and permeability. We demonstrated that noncytotoxic doses of PCB29-pQ induced vascular endothelial (VE)-cadherin junction disassembly by increasing the phosphorylation of VE-cadherin at Y658. We also found that focal adhesion assembly was required for PCB29-pQ-induced junction breakdown. Focal adhesion site-associated actin stress fibers may serve as holding points for cytoskeletal tension to regulate the cellular contractility. PCB29-pQ exposure promoted the association of actin stress fibers with paxillin-containing focal adhesion sites and enlarged the size/number of focal adhesions. In addition, PCB29-pQ treatment induced phosphorylation of paxillin at Y118. By using pharmacological inhibition, we further demonstrated that p38 activation was necessary for paxillin phosphorylation, whereas extracellular signal-regulated kinases-1/2 activation regulated VE-cadherin phosphorylation. In conclusion, these results indicated that PCB29-pQ stimulates endothelial hyperpermeability by mediating VE-cadherin disassembly, junction breakdown, and focal adhesion formation. Intervention strategies targeting focal adhesion and MAPK signaling could be used as therapeutic approaches for preventing adverse cardiovascular health effects induced by environmental toxicants such as PCBs.

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