Normal and non-metastatic cells, but not metastatic cells, sense transient stimulation and override substrate compliance signaling.

(A) Dissemination of cells from the multicellular spheroids with transient stimulation at 0 hours (left column) and 36 hours on soft (middle column) and hard (right column) substrates. Scale bar: 100 μm. (B) Bar graph representing the length of disseminated cells from the edge of the spheroid after 36 hours of stimulation. Black and white bars representing the distance of disseminated cells (in μm) towards (on soft substrate) and away (on hard substrate) from the stimulation, respectively. Error bars represent the mean ± s.e.m. from at least three separate experiments. *P<0.05. by the Student’s t-test.