Mechanical restrictions on biological responses by adherent cells within collagen gels

Cell-seeded collagen and fibrin gels represent excellent assays for studying interactions between adherent interstitial cells and the three-dimensional extracellular matrix in which they reside. Over one hundred papers have employed the free-floating collagen gel assay alone since its introduction in 1979 and much has been learned about mechanobiological responses of diverse types of cells. Yet, given that mechanobiology is the study of biological responses by cells to mechanical stimuli that must respect the basic laws of mechanics, we must quantify better the mechanical conditions that are imposed on or arise in cell-seeded gels. In this paper, we suggest that cell responses and associated changes in matrix organization within the classical free-floating gel assay are highly restricted by the mechanics. In particular, many salient but heretofore unexplained or misinterpreted observations in free-floating gels can be understood in terms of apparent cell-mediated residual stress fields that satisfy quasi-static equilibria and continuity of tractions. There is a continuing need, therefore, to bring together the allied fields of mechanobiology and biomechanics as we continue to elucidate cellular function within both native connective tissues and tissue equivalents that are used in basic scientific investigations or regenerative medicine.