The vast majority of cell biological studies examine function and molecular mechanisms using cells on flat surfaces: glass, plastic and more recently elastomeric polymers. While these studies have provided a wealth of valuable insight, they fail to consider that most biologically occurring surfaces are curved, with a radius of curvature roughly corresponding to the length scale of cells themselves. Here, we review recent studies showing that cells detect and respond to these curvature cues by adjusting and re-orienting their cell bodies, actin fibres and nuclei as well as by changing their transcriptional programme. Modelling substratum curvature has the potential to provide fundamental new insight into cell behaviour and function in vivo.

中文翻译：

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微米尺度曲率的细胞感测：理解微环境的前沿。

绝大多数细胞生物学研究都在平面表面上使用细胞来检查功能和分子机理：玻璃，塑料和最近的弹性体聚合物。尽管这些研究提供了大量有价值的见解，但他们没有考虑到大多数生物发生的表面都是弯曲的，曲率半径大致对应于细胞本身的长度尺度。在这里，我们回顾了最近的研究，这些研究表明细胞通过调节和重新定向其细胞体，肌动蛋白纤维和细胞核以及通过改变其转录程序来检测并响应这些曲率提示。对基质曲率建模有潜力为体内细胞行为和功能提供基本的新见解。