Figure 5.

Fluorescence images of actin filaments (red) and nuclei (blue) of MCL fibroblasts cultured on collagen-coated PDMS surfaces [90]. (Left column) Cells cultured on smooth PDMS substrates showed randomly aligned cytoskeletal and nuclear morphology, even after 3.5% cyclic strain at 1 Hz for 2 hours (c). (Right column) Cells cultured in PDMS microgrooves with 10 μm width and 6 μm depth were substantially more aligned, based on cytoskeletal and nuclear morphology, compared to smooth PDMS, especially after being cyclically strained (d). (e, f) Control cells grown in the custom cyclic strain incubator without strain applied showed similar results to cells cultured in a standard incubator (a, b). Reproduced with permission from Elsevier B.V.