%0 Journal Article %A Aron N. Horvath %A Claude N. Holenstein %A Unai Silvan %A Jess G. Snedeker %T The Protein Mat(ters) - Revealing Biologically Relevant Mechanical Contribution of Collagen and Fibronectin Coated Micropatterns %D 2019 %R 10.1101/668905 %J bioRxiv %P 668905 %X Understanding cell-material interactions requires accurate characterization of substrate mechanics, which are generally measured by indentation-type atomic force microscopy. Although model extracellular matrix coatings are used to facilitate cell-substrate adhesion, their tensile mechanical properties are generally unknown. In this study a novel tensile mechanical characterization of collagen and fibronectin micropatterned polyacrylamide hydrogels is performed. Our findings reveal that the protein coating itself has measurable and biologically relevant consequences, with ligand-specific tensile resistance of the patterned regions relative to the non-patterned surfaces. To our knowledge our study is the first to uncover a direction-dependent mechanical behavior of the protein coatings and to demonstrate that it affects cellular response relative to substrate mechanics. %U https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2019/06/13/668905.full.pdf