@article{fa442af556584510a6a1b0870aae5c25,
title = "Emergent dynamics of cardiomyocyte clusters on deformable polymeric substrates",
abstract = "Contractile dynamics of primary cardiomyocyte clusters is studied by culturing them on deformable thin polymeric films. The cell clusters beat and generate sufficient forces to deform the substrates out of plane. Over time, the clusters reorient their force dipoles along the direction of maximum compliance. This suggests that the cells are capable of sensing substrate deformations through a mechanosensitive feedback mechanism and dynamically reorganizing themselves.",
keywords = "Cardiomyocyte, Compliance, Dynamics, Force dipole, Mechanosensitive, Thin films",
author = "Anand, {Sandeep V.} and Saif, {Taher A.}",
note = "Funding Information: In conclusion, the dynamic cross talk between contractile neonatal rat cardiomyocyte cluster and a deformable substrate with anisotropic compliance is explored. The cell clusters are found to be sensitive to the anisotropy. The clusters gradually orient their contractile dipole direction along the most deformable direction of the substrate. The emergence of this orientation occurs over many cycles of contractile beating. This implies a dynamic feedback mechanism through which the cells sense the substrate deformations they produce by beating, and in turn optimize their contraction. The most deformable direction appears to be the most optimum for the substrates studied in this paper. This project was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) , Science and Technology Center on Emergent Behaviors in Integrated Cellular Systems (EBICS) Grant CBET-0939511 . Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016",
year = "2016",
month = sep,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1016/j.eml.2015.09.008",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "8",
pages = "1--5",
journal = "Extreme Mechanics Letters",
issn = "2352-4316",
publisher = "Elsevier Limited",
}