Local response and emerging nonlinear elastic length scale in biopolymer matrices

Nonlinear stiffening is a ubiquitous property of major types of biopolymers that make up the extracellular matrices (ECM) including collagen, fibrin, and basement membrane. Within the ECM, many types of cells such as fibroblasts and cancer cells have a spindle-like shape that acts like two equal and opposite force monopoles, which anisotropically stretch their surroundings and locally stiffen the matrix. Here, we first use optical tweezers to study the nonlinear force–displacement response to localized monopole forces. We then propose an effective-probe scaling argument that a local point force application can induce a stiffened region in the matrix, which can be characterized by a nonlinear length scale R(*) that increases with the increasing force magnitude; the local nonlinear force–displacement response is a result of the nonlinear growth of this effective probe that linearly deforms an increasing portion of the surrounding matrix. Furthermore, we show that this emerging nonlinear length scale R(*) can be observed around living cells and can be perturbed by varying matrix concentration or inhibiting cell contractility.