Enhancement of Neuroglial Extracellular Matrix Formation and Physiological Activity of Dopaminergic Neural Cocultures by Macromolecular Crowding.

ABSTRACT: The neuroglial extracellular matrix (ECM) provides critical support and physiological cues for the proper growth, differentiation, and function of neuronal cells in the brain. However, in most in vitro settings that study neural physiology, cells are grown as monolayers on stiff surfaces that maximize adhesion and proliferation, and, therefore, they lack the physiological cues that ECM in native neuronal tissues provides. Macromolecular crowding (MMC) is a biophysical phenomenon based on the principle of excluded volume that can be harnessed to induce native ECM deposition by cells in culture. Here, we show that MMC using two species of Ficoll with vitamin C supplementation significantly boosts deposition of relevant brain ECM by cultured human astrocytes. Dopaminergic neurons cocultured o

SUBMITTER: Vo AN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9317039 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature