Stability of adhesion clusters under constant force

We solve the stochastic equations for a cluster of parallel bonds with shared constant loading, rebinding, and the completely dissociated state as an absorbing boundary. In the small force regime, cluster lifetime grows only logarithmically with bond number for weak rebinding, but exponentially for...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review letters Vol. 92; no. 10; p. 108102
Main Authors Erdmann, T, Schwarz, U S
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 12.03.2004
Subjects
Cell Adhesion - physiology
Cytoskeleton - metabolism
Extracellular Matrix - physiology
Models, Biological
Stochastic Processes
Thermodynamics
Online AccessGet more information

Cover

More Information
Summary:We solve the stochastic equations for a cluster of parallel bonds with shared constant loading, rebinding, and the completely dissociated state as an absorbing boundary. In the small force regime, cluster lifetime grows only logarithmically with bond number for weak rebinding, but exponentially for strong rebinding. Therefore rebinding is essential to ensure physiological lifetimes. The number of bonds decays exponentially with time for most cases, but in the intermediate force regime a small increase in loading can lead to much faster decay. This effect might be used by cell-matrix adhesions to induce signaling events through cytoskeletal loading.
ISSN:0031-9007
DOI:10.1103/physrevlett.92.108102