title: Elastic properties of hydrogels and decellularized tissue sections used in mechanobiology studies probed by atomic force microscopy.
abstract: The increasing recognition that tissue elasticity is an important regulator of cell behavior in normal and pathologic conditions such as fibrosis and cancer has driven the development of cell culture substrata with tunable elasticity. Such development has urged the need to quantify the elastic properties of these cell culture substrata particularly at the nanometer scale, since this is the relevant length scale involved in cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) mechanical interactions. To address this need, we have exploited the versatility of atomic force microscopy to quantify the elastic properties of a variety of cell culture substrata used in mechanobiology studies, including floating collagen gels, ECM-coated polyacrylamide gels, and decellularized tissue sections. In this review we summarize major findings in this field from our group within the context of the state-of-the-art in the field, and provide a critical discussion on the applicability and complementarity of currently available cell culture assays with tunable elasticity. In addition, we briefly describe how the limitations of these assays provide opportunities for future research, which is expected to continue expanding our understanding of the mechanobiological aspects that support both normal and diseased conditions. Microsc. Res. Tech. 80:85-96, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Unitat de Biofísica i Bioenginyeria, Departament de Biomedicina, Facultat de Medicina, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, 08036, Spain.
authors.forename: Alícia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giménez
authors.affiliation: Unitat de Biofísica i Bioenginyeria, Departament de Biomedicina, Facultat de Medicina, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, 08036, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan José
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Uriarte
authors.affiliation: Unitat de Biofísica i Bioenginyeria, Departament de Biomedicina, Facultat de Medicina, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, 08036, Spain.
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vieyra
authors.affiliation: Unitat de Biofísica i Bioenginyeria, Departament de Biomedicina, Facultat de Medicina, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, 08036, Spain.|Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya (IBEC), Barcelona, 08028, Spain.|CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Madrid, 28029, Spain.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Navajas
authors.affiliation: Unitat de Biofísica i Bioenginyeria, Departament de Biomedicina, Facultat de Medicina, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, 08036, Spain.|CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Madrid, 28029, Spain.
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7898-1599
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alcaraz
mesh_terms: D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D001703:Biophysics; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible / Q000737:chemistry; D003094:Collagen / Q000648:ultrastructure; D019295:Computational Biology; D004548:Elasticity; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry*; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins; D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible; D020100:Hydrogels; C016680:polyacrylamide gels; D003094:Collagen
keywords: 3D culture; atomic force microscopy; elastic modulus; extracellular matrix; polyacrylamide