Fig. 3

The mechanosensitivity of HSCs and MSCs in response to substrate stiffness. a The ECM stiffness can be mimicked by varying stiffness of the 2D substrate, which affects cell adhesion and morphology. On the stiffer substrate, cell spreads out more obviously. b Naive MNCs are growing on the gel surface with a range of stiffness (scale bars, 20 μm) [71]. c Phase-contrast images show the morphological changes of HSCs cultured on soft and hard gels. On the soft substrate, HSCs remain small and round. On the harder substrate, cell protrusions appear, accompanied by enhanced cell spreading and polarity (scale bars, 10 μm) [72]. d Confocal image of HSC cytoskeleton (F-actin) and nucleus (DAPI) on hard (196 kPa) and soft (0.71 kPa) matrix [73]