Fig. 1

Embryonic tendon and a cellular fiber model. a E11 chick calcaneal tendons have high cell density and an organized actin cytoskeleton network. Actin cytoskeleton (green) and cell nuclei (blue) show actin filaments in embryonic tendon that appear to form a continuous network between adjacent cells. Scale bar = 10 μm. b A self-assembled cellular tendon fiber to mimic the high cell density of embryonic tendon, following 7 days of mechanical loading in vitro. Actin cytoskeleton (red) and cell nuclei (blue) show high cellularity, actin stress fiber organization and nuclear elongation. Scale bar = 100 μm. a reprinted with permission by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. from Schiele et al. 2015 [29]. b reprinted with permission by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. from Mubyana & Corr 2018 [34]