Mechanical Tension Promotes Formation of Gastrulation-like Nodes and Patterns Mesoderm Specification in Human Embryonic Stem Cells.

ABSTRACT: Embryogenesis is directed by morphogens that induce differentiation within a defined tissue geometry. Tissue organization is mediated by cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) adhesions and is modulated by cell tension and tissue-level forces. Whether cell tension regulates development by modifying morphogen signaling is less clear. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) exhibit an intrinsic capacity for self-organization, which motivates their use as a tractable model of early human embryogenesis. We engineered patterned substrates that recapitulate the biophysical properties of the early embryo and mediate the self-organization of "gastrulation-like" nodes in cultured hESCs. Tissue geometries that generated local nodes of high cell-adhesion tension directed the spatial patterning of t

SUBMITTER: Muncie JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7755684 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature