title: Cell spreading and proliferation in response to the composition and mechanics of engineered fibrillar extracellular matrices.
abstract: The extracellular matrix (ECM) consists of a complex mixture of biochemical and physical stimuli that together regulate cell behavior. In this study, we engineer a model ECM consisting of fibrillar Type-1 collagen plus fibronectin that allows systematic examination of the effects of matrix composition and mechanics on cells. On this combined protein matrix, cells exhibit intermediate degrees of spreading and proliferation compared to their responses on collagen or fibronectin alone. Adhesion to the combination matrix could be blocked by peptides containing the sequence arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) and by antibodies against α1 integrin, suggesting cell-matrix engagement was mediated by a combination of integrin receptors that recognize fibronectin and collagen. Regardless of integrin engagement, cells were sensitive to the mechanical properties of the combination ECM, suggesting that cells could process biochemical and mechanical cues simultaneously and independently.
authors.affiliation: Material Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA. chenak@pku.edu.cn
authors.forename: Antony K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Frank W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Delrio
authors.forename: Alexander W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.forename: Koo-Hyun
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Kiran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bhadiraju
authors.forename: Anne L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Plant
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena / Q000502:physiology; D002417:Cattle; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002460:Cell Line; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects*; D048430:Cell Shape / Q000187:drug effects*; D024042:Collagen Type I / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004548:Elasticity; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D005353:Fibronectins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D039423:Integrin alpha1 / Q000378:metabolism; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D024042:Collagen Type I; D005353:Fibronectins; D039423:Integrin alpha1; D009842:Oligopeptides; C047981:arginyl-glycyl-aspartic acid
keywords: collagen; combined matrix; extracellular matrix; fibronectin; stiffness