Despite its significant role in bone adaptation, its detailed structure remains elusive: light microscopy can barely detect the entire jungle at the best resolution, let alone individual fibers in the matrix surrounding the cell. Wang’s team relies on a bioimaging approach called Fluorescence recovery After Photobleaching to measure how fast a small fluorescent dye and a relatively large protein move through the pericellular matrix. The researchers record differential speeds of the large and small molecules. Although scientists cannot see the jungle, they are able to measure the sieving effects of the pericellular matrix. Using mathematical models, Wang’s team further estimates.
