We present a computational model of the mechanosensing of a fibroblast
cell seeded on the materials with different stiffnesses and thicknesses.
The model can predict the critical thickness of a given biomaterial that
a cell can sense and the dynamic change of stress fibres and focal
adhesions through its incorporation of the dynamic characteristics of
stress fibre contraction and focal adhesion. We show that the cell-cell
communication via elastic substrate induces the orientation of stress
fibres. The cell-cell interaction through compliant substrate has a
small but significant effect on enhancing the cell depth sensing
capability in terms of interfacial displacement and stress fibre
concentration. The framework developed here is important for a thorough
understanding of processes where substrates are deformed such as in
wound healing process and the design of bioactive coatings for tissue
engineering.