Sustained Strain Applied at High Rates Drives Dynamic Tensioning in Epithelial Cells

Sustained Strain Applied at High Rates Drives Dynamic Tensioning in Epithelial Cells | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Sustained Strain Applied at High Rates Drives Dynamic Tensioning in Epithelial Cells Ruiguo Yang, Bahareh Tajvidi Safa, Jordan Rosenbohm, Amir Monemianesfahani, and 6 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4570886/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 31 May, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Biology → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Epithelial cells experience long lasting loads of different magnitudes and rates. How they adapt to these loads strongly impacts tissue health. Yet, much remains unknown about their stress evolution under sustained strain. Here, by subjecting cell pairs to sustained strain, we report a bimodal stress response, where in addition to the typically observed stress relaxation, a subset of cells exhibits a dynamic tensioning process with significant elevation in stress within 100s, resembling active pulling-back in muscle fibers. Strikingly, the fraction of cells exhibiting tensioning increases with increasing strain rate. The tensioning response is accompanied by actin remodeling, and perturbation to actin abrogates it, supporting cell contractility’s role in the response. Collectively, our data show that epithelial cells adjust their tensional states over short timescales in a strain-rate dependent manner to adapt to sustained strains, demonstrating that the active pulling-back behavior could be a common protective mechanism against environmental stress. Biological sciences/Biophysics Physical sciences/Engineering/Biomedical engineering Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SupplementaryInformation.pdf SIVideo1.mp4 Supplementary Video 1 SIVideo2.mp4 Supplementary Video 2 SIVideo3.mp4 Supplementary Video 3 SIVideo4.mp4 Supplementary Video 4 Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 31 May, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Biology → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4570886","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":334160672,"identity":"2b9d17cb-7313-4537-b85d-fbbf0856e6bd","order_by":0,"name":"Ruiguo 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