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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Review of Collagen I Hydrogels for Bioengineered Tissue Microenvironments: Characterization of Mechanics, Structure, and Transport
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Solvent-free, supersoft and superelastic bottlebrush melts and networks
William F. M. Daniel,Joanna Burdynska,Mohammad Vatankhah-Varnoosfaderani,Krzysztof Matyjaszewski,Jaroslaw Paturej,Jaroslaw Paturej,Michael Rubinstein,Andrey V. Dobrynin,Sergei S. Sheiko +8 more
TL;DR: The bottlebrush melts and elastomers exhibit an unprecedented combination of low modulus, high strain at break (∼1,000%), and extraordinary elasticity, properties that are on par with those of designer gels.
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Gels with sense: supramolecular materials that respond to heat, light and sound
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Three-dimensional in vitro tumor models for cancer research and drug evaluation.
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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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