Fig. 1

Changes in matrix stiffness regulate cell doubling time, morphology and cellular activity. Three different types of cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231, HCT-116 and CFPAC-1 were embedding in Col-Tgel with the stiffness range of 0.8–50 kPa. Cell doubling time prolonged with the increase of matrix stiffness (a) cells tend to form big clusters in soft gel but compact clusters in hard gel (b), scale bar = 40 µm); and total reductive activity decreased with the increase of gel stiffness in different origins of carcinomas (CCK-8) (C). The location of active cells inside gel was shown in (d, top), The MTT unstained cells (white spots) were verified as dormant cells due to lack of dead cell staining (Live/Dead staining, Live: green, Dead: Red) (d, bottom), scale bar = 1000 µm. Statistical significance was performed by Tukey’s test comparing with low condition, ** representing p < 0.001.* representing p < 0.01