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How Cells Feel Their Environment: A Focus on Early Dynamic Events

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Abstract

It is now well demonstrated that cell adhesion to a foreign surface strongly influences prominent functions such as survival, proliferation, differentiation, migration, or mediator release. Thus, a current challenge of major practical and theoretical interest is to understand how cells process and integrate environmental cues to determine future behavior. The purpose of this review is to summarize some pieces of information that might serve this task. Three sequential points are discussed. First, selected examples are presented to illustrate the influence of substratum chemistry, topography, and mechanical properties on nearly all aspects of cell behavior observed during the days following adhesion. Second, we review reported evidence that long term cell behavior is highly dependent on the alterations of cell shape and cytoskeletal organization that are often initiated during the minutes to hours following adhesion. Third, we review recently obtained information on cell membrane roughness and dynamics, as well as kinetics and mechanics of molecular interactions. This knowledge is required to understand the influence of substratum structure on cell signaling during the first minute following contact, before the appearance of detectable structural changes. It is suggested that unraveling the earliest phenomena following cell-to-substratum encounter might provide a tractable way of better understanding subsequent events.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Adhesion and Inflammation, INSERM UMR600, Parc Scientifique de Luminy, Case 937, 13288, Marseille, France

    Elodie Cretel, Anne Pierres, Anne-Marie Benoliel & Pierre Bongrand

  2. CNRS UMR 6212, Marseille, France

    Elodie Cretel, Anne Pierres, Anne-Marie Benoliel & Pierre Bongrand

  3. Université de la Mediterranée, Marseille, France

    Elodie Cretel, Anne Pierres, Anne-Marie Benoliel & Pierre Bongrand

  4. Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Marseille, Marseille, France

    Elodie Cretel & Pierre Bongrand

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  1. Elodie Cretel
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  2. Anne Pierres
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  3. Anne-Marie Benoliel
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  4. Pierre Bongrand
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Correspondence to Pierre Bongrand.

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Cretel, E., Pierres, A., Benoliel, AM. et al. How Cells Feel Their Environment: A Focus on Early Dynamic Events. Cel. Mol. Bioeng. 1, 5–14 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12195-008-0009-7

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