Journal ArticleDOI
Soft biological materials and their impact on cell function
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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.read more
Citations
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Modular scaffolds assembled around living cells using poly(ethylene glycol) microspheres with macroporation via a non-cytotoxic porogen
TL;DR: The scaffolds presented here differ from previous hydrogel scaffolds in that cells are not encapsulated in hydrogels; macropores form in the presence of cells; and scaffold properties are controlled by the modular assembly of different microspheres that perform distinct functions.
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Biophysics of biofilm infection
TL;DR: The possibility of alternative therapies for treating biofilm infections that work by reducing biofilm cohesion could allow prevailing hydrodynamic shear to remove biofilm, increase the efficacy of designed interventions for removing biofilms, enable phagocytic engulfment of softened biofilm aggregates, and improve phagocyte mobility and access to biofilm.
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The Role of Particle Geometry and Mechanics in the Biological Domain
TL;DR: The methods used to manipulate the physical properties of particles and the relevance of these physical properties to cellular and circulatory interactions are highlighted and the importance of future work to synergistically tailor both physical and chemical properties of particulate materials is discussed.
Journal ArticleDOI
Tissue cohesion and the mechanics of cell rearrangement
TL;DR: The approach to cell rearrangement mechanics links adhesion to the resistance of a tissue to plastic deformation, identifies the characteristic velocity of the process, and provides a basis for the comparison of tissues with mechanical properties that may vary by orders of magnitude.
Journal ArticleDOI
Implantable microenvironments to attract hematopoietic stem/cancer cells
Jungwoo Lee,Matthew D. Li,Matthew D. Li,Jack M. Milwid,Jack M. Milwid,Joshua Dunham,Claudio Vinegoni,Rostic Gorbatov,Yoshiko Iwamoto,Fangjing Wang,Keyue Shen,Kimberley Joanne Hatfield,Marianne Enger,Sahba Shafiee,Emmet McCormack,Benjamin L. Ebert,Benjamin L. Ebert,Ralph Weissleder,Martin L. Yarmush,Martin L. Yarmush,Biju Parekkadan +20 more
TL;DR: The manufacture and image-guided monitoring of an engineered microenvironment with user-defined properties that recruits hematopoietic progenitors into the implant is described and it is shown in real time that the cell homing and retention process is efficient and durable for short- and long-term engraftment studies.
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.
Matthew J. Paszek,Nastaran Zahir,Kandice R. Johnson,Johnathon N. Lakins,Gabriela I. Rozenberg,Amit Gefen,Cynthia A. Reinhart-King,Susan S. Margulies,Micah Dembo,David Boettiger,Daniel A. Hammer,Valerie M. Weaver +11 more
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
Robert J. Pelham,Yu-li Wang +1 more
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
Tony Yeung,Penelope C. Georges,Lisa A. Flanagan,Beatrice Marg,Miguelina Ortiz,Makoto Funaki,Nastaran Zahir,Wenyu Ming,Valerie M. Weaver,Paul A. Janmey,Paul A. Janmey +10 more
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.
Viola Vogel,Michael P. Sheetz +1 more
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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