Enhanced mechanosensing of cells in synthetic 3D matrix with controlled biophysical dynamics.

ABSTRACT: 3D culture of cells in designer biomaterial matrices provides a biomimetic cellular microenvironment and can yield critical insights into cellular behaviours not available from conventional 2D cultures. Hydrogels with dynamic properties, achieved by incorporating either degradable structural components or reversible dynamic crosslinks, enable efficient cell adaptation of the matrix and support associated cellular functions. Herein we demonstrate that given similar equilibrium binding constants, hydrogels containing dynamic crosslinks with a large dissociation rate constant enable cell force-induced network reorganization, which results in rapid stellate spreading, assembly, mechanosensing, and differentiation of encapsulated stem cells when compared to similar hydrogels containing dynamic

SUBMITTER: Yang B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8192531 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature