Modular design of micropattern geometry achieves combinatorial enhancements in cell motility.

ABSTRACT: Basic micropattern shapes, such as stripes and teardrops, affect individual facets of cell motility, such as migration speed and directional bias, respectively. Here, we test the idea that these individual effects on cell motility can be brought together to achieve multidimensional improvements in cell behavior through the modular reconstruction of the simpler "building block" micropatterns. While a modular design strategy is conceptually appealing, current evidence suggests that combining environmental cues, especially molecular cues, such as growth factors and matrix proteins, elicits a highly nonlinear, synergistic cell response. Here, we show that, unlike molecular cues, combining stripe and teardrop geometric cues into a hybrid, spear-shaped micropattern yields combinatorial benefits

SUBMITTER: Kushiro K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3560351 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature