Strain gradients widely exist in development and physiological activities. The directional movement of cells is essential for proper cell localization, and directional cell migration in responses to gradients of chemicals, rigidity, density, and topography of extracellular matrices have been well-established. However; it is unclear whether strain gradients imposed on cells are sufficient to drive directional cell migration. In this work, a programmable uniaxial cell stretch device is developed that creates controllable strain gradients without changing substrate stiffness or ligand distributions. It is demonstrated that over 60% of the single rat embryonic fibroblasts migrate toward the lower strain side in static and the 0.1 Hz cyclic stretch conditions at ≈4% per mm strain gradients. It is confirmed that such responses are distinct from durotaxis or haptotaxis. Focal adhesion analysis confirms higher rates of contact area and protrusion formation on the lower strain side of the cell. A 2D extended motor-clutch model is developed to demonstrate that the strain-introduced traction force determines integrin fibronectin pairs' catch-release dynamics, which drives such directional migration. Together, these results establish strain gradient as a novel cue to regulate directional cell migration and may provide new insights in development and tissue repairs.
Keywords: cell stretching devices; focal adhesion; mechanotransduction; motor-clutch model; single cell migration; strain gradient; tensotaxis; traction force.
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