Melt electro-written scaffolds with box-architecture support orthogonally-oriented collagen

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy Bosworth ◽  
Matthew Lanaro ◽  
Danielle A O'Loughlin ◽  
Raechelle A D'Sa ◽  
Mia Woodruff ◽  
...  

Abstract Melt Electro-Writing (MEW) is a state-of-the-art technique that supports fabrication of 3D, precisely controlled and reproducible fiber structures. A standard MEW scaffold design is a box-structure, where a repeat layer of 90° boxes is produced from a single fiber. In 3D form (i.e., multiple layers), this structure has the potential to mimic orthogonal arrangements of collagen, as observed in the corneal stroma. In this study, we determined the response of human primary corneal stromal cells and their deposited fibrillar collagen (detected using a CNA35 probe) following 6-weeks in vitro culture on these box-structures made from poly(ε-caprolactone). Comparison was also made to glass substrates (topography-free) and electrospun poly(ε-caprolactone) fibers (aligned topography). Cell orientation and collagen deposition were non-uniform on glass substrates. Electrospun scaffolds supported an excellent parallel arrangement of cells and deposited collagen to the underlying architecture of aligned fibers, but there was no evidence of bidirectional collagen. In contrast, MEW scaffolds encouraged the formation of a dense, interconnected cellular network and deposited fibrillar collagen layers with a distinct orthogonal-arrangement. Collagen fibrils were particularly dominant through the middle layers of the MEW scaffolds’ total thickness and closer examination revealed these fibrils to be concentrated within the pores’ central regions. With the demand for donor corneas far exceeding the supply - leaving many with visual impairment - the application of MEW as a potential technique to recreate the corneal stroma with spontaneous, bidirectional collagen organization warrants further study.

Author(s):  
Jasper Foolen ◽  
Frank Baaijens

Native fibrous tissues contain complex anisotropic matrices. This results in essential direction-dependent mechanical properties, primarily originating from the fibrillar collagen. When engineering fibrous tissues in vitro, matrix anisotropy is crucial for in vivo functionality and durability. However, it is not fully understood how to guide, maintain and control matrix anisotropy. Cell traction and associated cell orientation may contribute significantly to collagen orientation. Therefore, the ability to manipulate cell orientation may be essential to develop a preferred matrix anisotropy for tissue engineering applications.


Author(s):  
Arthur J. Wasserman ◽  
Kathy C. Kloos ◽  
David E. Birk

Type I collagen is the predominant collagen in the cornea with type V collagen being a quantitatively minor component. However, the content of type V collagen (10-20%) in the cornea is high when compared to other tissues containing predominantly type I collagen. The corneal stroma has a homogeneous distribution of these two collagens, however, immunochemical localization of type V collagen requires the disruption of type I collagen structure. This indicates that these collagens may be arranged as heterpolymeric fibrils. This arrangement may be responsible for the control of fibril diameter necessary for corneal transparency. The purpose of this work is to study the in vitro assembly of collagen type V and to determine whether the interactions of these collagens influence fibril morphology.


1991 ◽  
Vol 274 (2) ◽  
pp. 615-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Kern ◽  
M Menasche ◽  
L Robert

The biosynthesis of type I, type V and type VI collagens was studied by incubation of calf corneas in vitro with [3H]proline as a marker. Pepsin-solubilized collagen types were isolated by salt fractionation and quantified by SDS/PAGE. Expressed as proportions of the total hydroxyproline solubilized, corneal stroma comprised 75% type I, 8% type V and 17% type VI collagen. The rates of [3H]proline incorporation, linear up to 24 h for each collagen type, were highest for type VI collagen and lowest for type I collagen. From pulse-chase experiments, the calculated apparent half-lives for types I, V and VI collagens were 36 h, 10 h and 6 h respectively.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Qin ◽  
Xuekun Fu ◽  
Jing Ma ◽  
Manxia Lin ◽  
Peijun Zhang ◽  
...  

AbstractOsteocytes act as mechanosensors in bone; however, the underlying mechanism remains poorly understood. Here we report that deleting Kindlin-2 in osteocytes causes severe osteopenia and mechanical property defects in weight-bearing long bones, but not in non-weight-bearing calvariae. Kindlin-2 loss in osteocytes impairs skeletal responses to mechanical stimulation in long bones. Control and cKO mice display similar bone loss induced by unloading. However, unlike control mice, cKO mice fail to restore lost bone after reloading. Osteocyte Kindlin-2 deletion impairs focal adhesion (FA) formation, cytoskeleton organization and cell orientation in vitro and in bone. Fluid shear stress dose-dependently increases Kindlin-2 expression and decreases that of Sclerostin by downregulating Smad2/3 in osteocytes; this latter response is abolished by Kindlin-2 ablation. Kindlin-2-deficient osteocytes express abundant Sclerostin, contributing to bone loss in cKO mice. Collectively, we demonstrate an indispensable novel role of Kindlin-2 in maintaining skeletal responses to mechanical stimulation by inhibiting Sclerostin expression during osteocyte mechanotransduction.


2000 ◽  
Vol 182 (4) ◽  
pp. 1118-1126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niilo Kaldalu ◽  
Urve Toots ◽  
Victor de Lorenzo ◽  
Mart Ustav

ABSTRACT The alkylbenzoate degradation genes of Pseudomonas putida TOL plasmid are positively regulated by XylS, an AraC family protein, in a benzoate-dependent manner. In this study, we used deletion mutants and hybrid proteins to identify which parts of XylS are responsible for the DNA binding, transcriptional activation, and benzoate inducibility. We found that a 112-residue C-terminal fragment of XylS binds specifically to the Pm operator in vitro, protects this sequence from DNase I digestion identically to the wild-type (wt) protein, and activates the Pm promoter in vivo. When overexpressed, that C-terminal fragment could activate transcription as efficiently as wt XylS. All the truncations, which incorporated these 112 C-terminal residues, were able to activate transcription at least to some extent when overproduced. Intactness of the 210-residue N-terminal portion was found to be necessary for benzoate responsiveness of XylS. Deletions in the N-terminal and central regions seriously reduced the activity of XylS and caused the loss of effector control, whereas insertions into the putative interdomain region did not change the basic features of the XylS protein. Our results confirm that XylS consists of two parts which probably interact with each other. The C-terminal domain carries DNA-binding and transcriptional activation abilities, while the N-terminal region carries effector-binding and regulatory functions.


2008 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 693-707 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. C. C. Chen ◽  
A. K. Ekaputra ◽  
K. Gauthaman ◽  
P. G. Adaikan ◽  
H. Yu ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pouriska Kivanany ◽  
Kyle Grose ◽  
Nihan Yonet-Tanyeri ◽  
Sujal Manohar ◽  
Yukta Sunkara ◽  
...  

Background: Corneal stromal cells (keratocytes) are responsible for developing and maintaining normal corneal structure and transparency, and for repairing the tissue after injury. Corneal keratocytes reside between highly aligned collagen lamellae in vivo. In addition to growth factors and other soluble biochemical factors, feedback from the extracellular matrix (ECM) itself has been shown to modulate corneal keratocyte behavior. Methods: In this study, we fabricate aligned collagen substrates using a microfluidics approach and assess their impact on corneal keratocyte morphology, cytoskeletal organization, and patterning after stimulation with platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) or transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFβ). We also use time-lapse imaging to visualize the dynamic interactions between cells and fibrillar collagen during wound repopulation following an in vitro freeze injury. Results: Significant co-alignment between keratocytes and aligned collagen fibrils was detected, and the degree of cell/ECM co-alignment further increased in the presence of PDGF or TGFβ. Freeze injury produced an area of cell death without disrupting the collagen. High magnification, time-lapse differential interference contrast (DIC) imaging allowed cell movement and subcellular interactions with the underlying collagen fibrils to be directly visualized. Conclusions: With continued development, this experimental model could be an important tool for accessing how the integration of multiple biophysical and biochemical signals regulate corneal keratocyte differentiation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
José Manuel Cornejo-Bravo ◽  
Luis Jesús Villarreal-Gómez ◽  
Ricardo Vera-Graziano ◽  
María Raquel Vega-Ríos ◽  
José Luis Pineda-Camacho ◽  
...  

<p>The objective of this work was to evaluate the biocompatibility of scaffolds of poly(<em>L</em>-lactide) with pure and grafted hydroxyapatite, at various concentrations of reinforcement. The biocompatibility tests were carried out <em>in vivo </em>in Wistar rats by implanting the material into the subcutaneous and muscle tissues from 1 to 14 weeks and evaluating the surrounding tissue stained with hematoxylin-eosin. For <em>in vitro </em>assays, MTT and neutral red assay were used to evaluate any cytotoxicity in Mioblast Muscle C2C12 Cells (ATCC® CRL-1772™) and Bovine Coronary Artery Endothelial Cells (BCAEC); <em>Escherichia coli </em>and <em>Staphylococcus aureus </em>were used to evaluate bacterial adhesion. All variants of scaffolds provoked a mild inflammatory response, without showing necrosis. No evidence of cytotoxicity was presented in cell viability tests and good bacterial cell adhesion was visualized for all of the materials studied.</p>


Author(s):  
Kenneth H. Hu ◽  
John P. Eichorst ◽  
Chris S. McGinnis ◽  
David M. Patterson ◽  
Eric D. Chow ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTSpatial transcriptomics seeks to integrate single-cell transcriptomic data within the 3-dimensional space of multicellular biology. Current methods use glass substrates pre-seeded with matrices of barcodes or fluorescence hybridization of a limited number of probes. We developed an alternative approach, called ‘ZipSeq’, that uses patterned illumination and photocaged oligonucleotides to serially print barcodes (Zipcodes) onto live cells within intact tissues, in real-time and with on-the-fly selection of patterns. Using ZipSeq, we mapped gene expression in three settings: in-vitro wound healing, live lymph node sections and in a live tumor microenvironment (TME). In all cases, we discovered new gene expression patterns associated with histological structures. In the TME, this demonstrated a trajectory of myeloid and T cell differentiation, from periphery inward. A variation of ZipSeq efficiently scales to the level of single cells, providing a pathway for complete mapping of live tissues, subsequent to real-time imaging or perturbation.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilie Le Maout ◽  
Simon Lo Vecchio ◽  
Praveen Kumar Korla ◽  
Jim Jinn-Chyuan Sheu ◽  
Daniel Riveline

AbstractCell motility is essential in a variety of biological phenomena ranging from early development to organ homeostasis and diseases. This phenomenon was so far mainly studied and characterized on flat surfaces in vitro whereas this situation is rarely seen in vivo. Recently, cell motion in 3D microfabricated channels was reported to be possible, and it was shown that confined cells push on walls. However, rules setting cell directions in this context were not characterized yet. Here, we show by using assays that ratchetaxis operates in 3D ratchets on fibroblasts and on epithelial cancerous cells. Open ratchets rectify cell motion, whereas closed ratchets impose a direct cell migration along channels set by the cell orientation at the channel entry point. We also show that nuclei are pressed at constrictions zones through mechanisms involving dynamic asymmetries of focal contacts, stress fibers, and intermediate filaments. Interestingly, cells do not pass these constricting zones when defective in the keratin fusion implicated in squamous cancer. By combining ratchetaxis with chemical gradients, we finally report that cells are sensitive to local asymmetries in confinement and that topological and chemical cues may be encoded differently by cells. Altogether our ratchet channels could mimic small blood vessels where cells are confined: cells would probe local asymmetries which would determine their entry into tissues and direction. Our results could shed light on invasions mechanisms in cancer.


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