Accelerated epithelial layer healing induced by tactile anisotropy in surface topography.

ABSTRACT: Mammalian cells respond to tactile cues from topographic elements presented by the substrate. Among these, anisotropic features distributed in an ordered manner give directionality. In the extracellular matrix, this ordering is embedded in a noisy environment altering the contact guidance effect. To date, it is unclear how cells respond to topographical signals in a noisy environment. Here, using rationally designed substrates, we report morphotaxis, a guidance mechanism enabling fibroblasts and epithelial cells to move along gradients of topographic order distortion. Isolated cells and cell ensembles perform morphotaxis in response to gradients of different strength and directionality, with mature epithelia integrating variations of topographic order over hundreds of micrometers. The leve

SUBMITTER: Pramotton FM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10081848 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature