title: Morphology and functions of astrocytes cultured on water-repellent fractal tripalmitin surfaces.
abstract: In the brain, astrocytes play an essential role with their multiple functions and sophisticated structure, as surrounded by a fractal environment which has not been available in our traditional cell culture. Water-repellent fractal tripalmitin (PPP) surfaces can imitate the fractal environment in vivo, so the morphology and biochemical characterization of astrocytes on these surfaces are examined. Water-repellent fractal PPP surface can induce astrocytes to display sophisticated morphology with smaller size of cell area, longer and finer filopodium-like processes, and higher morphological complexity. The super water-repellent fractal PPP surface with water contact angle of 150°∼160° produces the maximal effects compared with other surfaces at lower water contact angles. The trends of characteristic protein expression, including that of nestin, vimentin, GFAP and glutamine synthetase, for astrocytes cultured on super water-repellent fractal PPP surfaces approximate more to in vivo pattern. The super water-repellent PPP surface also render astrocytes to perform more pronounced promotion of neurogenesis by increasing the release of nerve growth factor in a co-culture system. Altogether, our results suggest that the super water-repellent fractal PPP surface facilitates the astrocytes to mimic their in vivo performance, thus provides a closer-to-natural culture environment for experimental assessment of glial structure and functions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology; Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of the Ministry of Health of China; Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences; College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Wei-wei
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology; Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of the Ministry of Health of China; Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences; College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Shan-shan
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology; Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of the Ministry of Health of China; Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences; College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology; Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of the Ministry of Health of China; Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences; College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology; Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of the Ministry of Health of China; Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences; College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiangnan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Qun-fang
authors.initials: QF
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Hyun-Joo
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Wen-jun
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology; Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of the Ministry of Health of China; Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences; College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China. Electronic address: chenzhong@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D002470:Cell Survival; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018920:Coculture Techniques / Q000379:methods; D055495:Neurogenesis; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology; D011107:Polylysine / Q000737:chemistry*; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry; D017155:Wettability
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D014280:Triglycerides; D014867:Water; D011107:Polylysine; C005859:tripalmitin
keywords: Astrocytes; Differentiation; Fractal; Tripalmitin; Water repellency