Organization of the actin cytoskeleton and chracterization of focal adhesions on various line dimensions.

<p>(A) Staining for F-actin (red) in control cells on homogeneous fibronectin and in cells on fibronectin lines ranging from 10 µm to 80 µm. White squares outline the regions shown enlarged in (B). Notably on 10 µm and 20 µm lines, actin stress fibers were oriented along the direction of the micro-patterned line. With increasing line width, the degree of alignment was decreased. In general, number of actin stress fibers was reduced due to decreasing line width. (C) Focal adhesions were visualized using an anti-vinculin antibody. (D) Area and (E) form factor of focal adhesions are shown. On 10 µm lines, focal adhesions were linearly oriented on line borders. Focal adhesions became smaller and more elongated with decreasing line width. (Scale bars: (A) 47.62 µm, (B) 6.8 µm, (C) 11.9 µm; (D, E) n = 6, <i>P</i>-values are denoted by asterisks: * <i>P</i><0.05, ** <i>P</i><0.01, *** <i>P</i><0.001).