Three-dimensional deformation field and stress field generated by the example cell in Figure 1 on the surface of the substratum.

<p>The cell is moving from left to right. The level of deformation/stress is represented by a pseudo-color map according to the color bars at the right hand side of the figure. The green contour indicates the cell outline. The data are overlaid on the DIC image used to identify the cell body (see 2.4). The black scale bars are long. <i>(</i><b><i>a</i></b><i>)</i>, Tangential (horizontal) deformation in the direction parallel to cell speed, . <i>(</i><b><i>b</i></b><i>)</i>, Tangential (horizontal) deformation in the direction perpendicular to cell speed, . <i>(</i><b><i>c</i></b><i>)</i>, Normal (vertical) deformation, . <i>(</i><b><i>d</i></b><i>)</i>, Tangential (horizontal) stress in the direction parallel to cell speed, . <i>(e)</i>, Tangential (horizontal) stress in the direction perpendicular to cell speed, . <i>(f)</i>, Normal (vertical) stress, . The arrows in panels , , and indicate the directions of positive (red) and negative (blue) deformation/stress. The and symbols in panels and indicate deformation/stress pointing respectively into the plane (blue, negative) and out of the plane (red, positive).