Extracellular anisotropic stresses trigger fibroblast transition into myofibroblasts by the mechanical self-reinforcement of cell–extracellular matrix interactions.

Biomedical researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have decoded how mechanical forces drive cell behavior in fibrosis.

Mechanical stretch can activate long-lived changes in fibroblasts, increasing their contractility and initiating phenotypic transformations. This a...