2-D finite element simulation of cell-substrate debonding during cyclic stretch

Substrate stretch experiment, which is carried out on several kinds of adherent cells, is usually used to catch the physiological variation and the morphological response to cyclic substrate deformation. In this paper, cardiac myocyte cultured on silica substrate were exerted stretch loadings using a custom-made substrate stretch device. The effect of stretch on the debonding between cardiac myocyte and silica substrate was studied. Finite element analysis (FEA) was developed to uncover it. Meanwhile, a Xu-Needleman formulation was used in the simulation of the interaction relationship to define the surface interaction behavior for contact surfaces between cell and substrate. 2-D adhesive cell model with nonlinear viscoelastic constitutive relationship was established to simulate the mechanical debonding behavior. This computational simulation contributes to reveal the mechanism underlying the debonding behaviors of single cardiac myocyte under cyclic substrate stretch.