Cell responses to the mechanochemical microenvironment--implications for regenerative medicine and drug delivery.
Soft-tissue cells are surprisingly sensitive to the elasticity of their microenvironment, suggesting that traditional culture plastic and glass are less relevant to tissue regeneration and chemotherapeutics than might be achieved. Cells grown on gels that mimic the elasticity of tissue reveal a significant influence of matrix elasticity on adhesion, cytoskeletal organization, and even the differentiation of human adult derived stem cells. Cellular forces and feedback are keys to how cells feel their mechanical microenvironment, but detailed molecular mechanisms are still being elucidated. This review summarizes our initial findings for multipotent stem cells and also the elasticity-coupled effects of drugs on cancer cells and smooth muscle cells. The drugs include the contractility inhibitor blebbistatin, the proliferation inhibitor mitomycin C, an apoptotis-inducing antibody against CD47, and the translation inhibitor cycloheximide. The differential effects not only lend insight into mechano-sensing of the substrate by cells, but also have important implications for regeneration and molecular therapies.
Rehfeldt
Florian
F
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA 19104, USA.
Engler
Adam J
AJ
Eckhardt
Adam
A
Ahmed
Fariyal
F
Discher
Dennis E
DE
D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002468:Cell Physiological Phenomena; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D004548:Elasticity; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D012038:Regeneration / Q000502:physiology; D044968:Regenerative Medicine / Q000639:trends*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
D008024:Ligands