A high-throughput microfluidic method for fabricating aligned collagen fibrils to study Keratocyte behavior.

ABSTRACT: In vivo, keratocytes are surrounded by aligned type I collagen fibrils that are organized into lamellae. A growing body of literature suggests that the unique topography of the corneal stroma is an important regulator of keratocyte behavior. In this study we describe a microfluidic method to deposit aligned fibrils of type I collagen onto glass coverslips. This high-throughput method allowed for the simultaneous coating of up to eight substrates with aligned collagen fibrils. When these substrates were integrated into a PDMS microwell culture system they provided a platform for high-resolution imaging of keratocyte behavior. Through the use of wide-field fluorescence and differential interference contrast microscopy, we observed that the density of collagen fibrils deposited was dependent

SUBMITTER: Lam KH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7228026 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature