A Novel Cell Traction Force Microscopy to Study Multi-Cellular System
Figure 2
Two cells applying contractile forces on 2D elastic substrate.
In our finite element scheme, all nodal displacement underneath the cells on the top surface of the gel are measured, while for the nodes outside the cells all tractions are assigned zero and thus their displacements are not necessary to measure. All nodal displacements at the bottom and side walls of the gel are assigned zero (not shown in the figure). These combinations of data inputs constitute the set of Mixed Boundary Conditions in our FEM simulation. The computed parameters of the model are nodal traction underneath the cells as well as displacements of the extracellular nodes (traction-free nodes on the surface).