Fig. 3. The temporal relationship between calcium transients and increases in traction stress. Panels A-D are color-coded vector maps obtained at time points before (A), during (B) and after a calcium transient (C,D). (E) Plots of Calcium Green-1 fluorescence (CG-1) and values for the 90th percentile traction stress (TF 90) that were obtained from a running average of five data points. Following a calcium transient, an increase in traction stress occurs that is maintained following a decrease in [Ca²⁺]_i to baseline. Retraction (R) of the lateral rear edge results in a large decrease traction stress (D) yet this is elevated compared to pre-transient levels. (F) Cell outlines corresponding to the vector maps in panels A-D showing cell shape and movement with respect to the substratum.