Adhesion-mediated signaling provides cells with information about multiple parameters of their microenvironment, including mechanical characteristics. Often, such signaling is based on a unique feature of adhesion structures: their ability to grow and strengthen when force is applied to them, either from within the cell or from the outside. Such adhesion reinforcement is characteristic of integ...

Cells rapidly transduce forces exerted on extracellular matrix contacts into tyrosine kinase activation and recruitment of cytoskeletal proteins to reinforce integrin-cytoskeleton connections and initiate adhesion site formation. The relationship between these two processes has not been defined, particularly at the submicrometer level. Using talin1-deficient cells, it appears that talin1 is cri...

Atomic force microscopy was used to study adsorption and adhesion peculiarities of interferon α-2a on glass and mica surfaces. The specific protein adsorption behavior as a function of the pH value was illustrated on mica by single molecule imaging, while adhesion forces between interferon molecules and inner surfaces of borosilicate glass vials were measured directly under aqueous buffer condi...

Vascular endothelial cells rapidly sense and transduce external forces into biological signals through a process known as mechanotransduction. Numerous biological processes are involved in mechanotransduction, including calcium signaling and activation of focal adhesion sites, but little is known about how cells initially sense changes in the external mechanical environment. In order to examine...

The interaction of leukocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) is central to the regulation of adhesion in leukocytes. In this report, we investigated the mechanisms by which phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) promotes LFA-1-dependent cell adhesion. The adhesion of PMA-stimulated cells to immobilized ICAM-1 was quantified in direct force measureme...

An elastic–plastic adhesion model for a metallic deformable sphere pressed by a rigid flat is presented. Analytical dimensionless expressions for the local separation outside the contact area and for the adhesion force are provided covering a large range of interference values from a point contact to a fully plastic contact. Two main dimensionless parameters of the problem are identified and th...

One of the most exciting discoveries in biological adhesion is the recent and counter-intuitive observation that the lifetimes of some biological adhesive bonds, called catch bonds, are enhanced by tensile mechanical force. At least two types of adhesive proteins have been shown to form catch bonds--blood proteins called selectins and a bacterial protein called FimH. Both mediate shear-enhanced...