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Journal ArticleDOI

Soft biological materials and their impact on cell function

Ilya Levental, +2 more
- 14 Feb 2007 - 
- Vol. 3, Iss: 3, pp 299-306
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TLDR
Biocompatible synthetic materials already have many applications, but combining chemical compatibility with physiologically appropriate mechanical properties will increase their potential for use both as implants and as substrates for tissue engineering.
Abstract
Most organs and biological tissues are soft viscoelastic materials with elastic moduli ranging from on the order of 100 Pa for the brain to 100 000 Pa for soft cartilage. Biocompatible synthetic materials already have many applications, but combining chemical compatibility with physiologically appropriate mechanical properties will increase their potential for use both as implants and as substrates for tissue engineering. Understanding and controlling mechanical properties, specifically softness, is important for appropriate physiological function in numerous contexts. The mechanical properties of the substrate on which, or within which, cells are placed can have as large an impact as chemical stimuli on cell morphology, differentiation, motility, and commitment to live or die.

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Citations
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Developing a Three-Dimensional Microenvironment to Investigate Metastatic Cancer Invasion

Tiffany Lin
TL;DR: This paper presents a meta-analysis of 3D Hydrogel Scaffold Improvement and Cell Tractions in Cancer Metastasis using MDA-MB-231 Cell Culture and 2D Traction Force Microscopy for Error Correction.
DissertationDOI

Development of a novel 3D hydrogel for tissue engineering and microfluidics applications

Siew Pei Hoo
TL;DR: A method was developed to prepare hybrid paper microfluidic devices where modified cellulose is crosslinked to form a freestanding, paper-like construct that provides a stable structure in an aqueous environment and the HPC-MA scaffolds were found to be biocompatible to human adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs).
Journal ArticleDOI

Engineering Tridimensional Hydrogel Tissue and Organ Phantoms with Tunable Springiness

TL;DR: In this article , 3D printable tissue-mimicking elastomeric double network hydrogels with tailorable stiffness are evolved to idiosyncratically match diverse biological soft tissues by regulating the compositions of hydrogel matrix and the density of metal coordination bonds.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Tissue Cells Feel and Respond to the Stiffness of Their Substrate

TL;DR: An understanding of how tissue cells—including fibroblasts, myocytes, neurons, and other cell types—sense matrix stiffness is just emerging with quantitative studies of cells adhering to gels with which elasticity can be tuned to approximate that of tissues.
Journal ArticleDOI

Tensional homeostasis and the malignant phenotype.

TL;DR: It is found that tumors are rigid because they have a stiff stroma and elevated Rho-dependent cytoskeletal tension that drives focal adhesions, disrupts adherens junctions, perturbs tissue polarity, enhances growth, and hinders lumen formation.
Journal ArticleDOI

Cell locomotion and focal adhesions are regulated by substrate flexibility

TL;DR: The ability of cells to survey the mechanical properties of their surrounding environment is demonstrated and the possible involvement of both protein tyrosine phosphorylation and myosin-generated cortical forces in this process is suggested.
Journal ArticleDOI

Effects of substrate stiffness on cell morphology, cytoskeletal structure, and adhesion

TL;DR: The hypothesis that mechanical factors impact different cell types in fundamentally different ways, and can trigger specific changes similar to those stimulated by soluble ligands, is supported.
Journal ArticleDOI

Local force and geometry sensing regulate cell functions.

TL;DR: Tissue scaffolds that have been engineered at the micro- and nanoscale level now enable better dissection of the mechanosensing, transduction and response mechanisms of eukaryotic cells.
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