{
  "abstract": "Collagen type V (Col-V) is a minor fibrillar collagen that regulates collagen fibril assembly, and its haploinsufficiency causes classical Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, in which wound healing is delayed. Whether Col-V also changes how fibroblasts adhere to, pull on, and migrate across a collagen-presenting surface has not been tested directly. Here, we covalently coupled Col-I or Col-V to soft (2.7 kPa) silicone substrates and quantified the mechanical response of NIH/3T3 fibroblasts. On Col-V, cells generated about 1.5-fold higher traction, spread more, and formed smaller focal adhesions that each carried more force. Adhesions on Col-V assembled and disassembled faster. Single fibroblasts on Col-V migrated more slowly but more persistently, and fibroblast monolayers closed a 500 µm gap faster. Raising substrate stiffness to 13 kPa reproduced this phenotype on Col-I, including higher traction, larger spread area, and smaller focal adhesions, indicating that Col-V presentation produces an adhesion state that otherwise requires a stiffer substrate. In separate reconstituted collagen hydrogels, co-assembly with 10 to 20% Col-V yielded thinner, straighter fibrils, and 20% Col-V increased the indentation modulus of the gel. These results identify the collagen type presented at the cell-material interface as a design parameter that can partly substitute for bulk stiffness in controlling fibroblast traction and migration, and they suggest Col-V as a tunable component of collagen-based biomaterials.\n\nStatement of significance: Substrate stiffness is a central design parameter for cell-instructive biomaterials, but it is difficult to change without also changing other material properties. We show that the type of collagen presented at the cell-material interface can stand in for a roughly fivefold increase in substrate stiffness. On soft substrates coupled with collagen V, a minor fibrillar collagen, fibroblasts generated traction, spreading, and compact focal adhesions comparable to those on a stiffer collagen I substrate, turned over adhesions faster, migrated more persistently, and closed wounds faster. Collagen V refined fibril architecture and stiffened reconstituted collagen hydrogels. These findings point to collagen V as a tunable component for collagen-based coatings and scaffolds intended to direct fibroblast migration, including wound repair.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Shaina P. Royer"
    },
    {
      "name": "Himja Tiwari"
    },
    {
      "name": "David Cho"
    },
    {
      "name": "Sesha Sai Ramineni"
    },
    {
      "name": "Majid Rostami"
    },
    {
      "name": "Mohanish Chandurkar"
    },
    {
      "name": "Alexander X. Cartagena-Rivera"
    },
    {
      "name": "Sangyoon J. Han",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1384-665X"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e3nt36gcwzf3k.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.10.21.760760",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.21.760760v1.full",
  "id": "e3nt36gcwzf3k",
  "issns": [
    "2692-8205"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.21.760760v1",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "bioengineering"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Article"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1307|Cellular Mechanics and Interactions"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223337632",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.21.760760v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC13738768",
  "pmid": "42996016",
  "published": "2026-10-21",
  "publisher": "Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Preprints",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e3nt36gcwzf3k.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:29:19Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.10.21.760760",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.21.760760v1"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-09T12:23:42Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13738768",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.10.21.760760"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:bioengineering",
      "subfield": "systems-synthetic"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Collagen V Presented at the Cell-Substrate Interface Mimics Substrate Stiffening to Enhance Fibroblast Traction, Adhesion Turnover, and Persistent Migration",
  "title_text": "Collagen V Presented at the Cell-Substrate Interface Mimics Substrate Stiffening to Enhance Fibroblast Traction, Adhesion Turnover, and Persistent Migration",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-09T12:23:42Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e3nt36gcwzf3k",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}