Adaptable boronate ester hydrogels with tunable viscoelastic spectra to probe timescale dependent mechanotransduction.

ABSTRACT: Cells are capable of sensing the differences in elastic and viscous properties (i.e., the 'viscoelasticity') of their tissue microenvironment and responding accordingly by changing their transcriptional activity and modifying their behaviors. When designing viscoelastic materials to mimic the mechanical properties of native tissue niches, it is important to consider the timescales over which cells probe their microenvironment, as the response of a viscoelastic material to an imposed stress or strain is timescale dependent. Although the timescale of cellular mechano-sensing is currently unknown, hydrogel substrates with tunable viscoelastic spectra can allow one to probe the cellular response to timescale dependent mechanical properties. Here, we report on a cytocompatible and viscoelastic

SUBMITTER: Marozas IA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6764851 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature