ABSTRACT
Technologies capable of quantitatively measuring the forces exerted by single cells have enabled the eld of mechanotransduction-the study of how mechanical forces are transduced into biochemical signals. Mechanical forces, which are exerted by nearly all eukaryotic cells, drive cell migration and maintain the mechanical tone of tissues. Moreover, the same forces feed back through biochemical signaling pathways to regulate cellular functions ranging from mitosis to stem cell differentiation and self-renewal. Here, I will review cell traction force microscopy, one of the most widespread methods for assessing the traction forces exerted by single cells and currently the only technique capable of providing vectorial information about the magnitude and direction of forces exerted in both 2D and 3D settings.
