A Novel Cell Traction Force Microscopy to Study Multi-Cellular System
Figure 5
Verification of the uniqueness of solution of the traction field computed from the experimental displacement field.
(a) Phase-contrast pictures of 2 spatially isolated MKF cells on 1 kPa PA gels, cultured after 1 day. Scale bar: 15 µm. (b) The displacement fields underneath each cell were chosen for computation. (c) A larger area enclosing both the cells and neighboring area was chosen where displacement field was prescribed. In both cases, the nodes outside the selected regions were set traction-free. (d-e) The traction field computed by above 2 cases were visualized and compared by 2D contour plots (d-e) and 3D bar representation (g-h). Also, the node-by-node difference of traction fields computed using 2 selected schemes was illustrated by both 2D contour plot (f) and 3D bar representation (i). Dashed lines in orange outline the cells boundaries.