Development of a Toolkit to Visualize the Components of Local Junctional Forces in Lung Cells

Abstract

Lung cells are continuously exposed to mechanical forces from their microenvironment. The forces transmitted across the junctions and their relationship with cellular physiology may be used towards disease characterization or discovery of new knowledge. In this study, we developed a toolkit to visualize the components of local forces across the cell-cell junctions and discovered an unanticipated relationship between average cellular tension and the ratio of junctional force components.