Macromolecular crowding tunes 3D collagen architecture and cell morphogenesis.

ABSTRACT: Collagen I is the primary extracellular matrix component of most solid tumors and influences metastatic progression. Collagen matrix engineering techniques are useful for understanding how this complex biomaterial regulates cancer cell behavior and for improving in vitro cancer models. Here, we establish an approach to tune collagen fibril architecture using PEG as an inert molecular crowding agent during gelation and cell embedding. We find that crowding produces matrices with tighter fibril networks that are less susceptible to proteinase mediated degradation, but does not significantly alter matrix stiffness. The resulting matrices have the effect of preventing cell spreading, confining cells, and reducing cell contractility. Matrix degradability and fibril length are identified as stro

SUBMITTER: Ranamukhaarachchi SK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6375559 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature