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Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons™
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Full-Text Articles in Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering
Combining Dynamic Stretch And Tunable Stiffness To Probe Cell Mechanobiology In Vitro, Angela Quinlan, Leslie Sierad, Andrew Capulli, Laura Firstenberg, Kristen Billiar
Combining Dynamic Stretch And Tunable Stiffness To Probe Cell Mechanobiology In Vitro, Angela Quinlan, Leslie Sierad, Andrew Capulli, Laura Firstenberg, Kristen Billiar
Kristen L. Billiar
Cells have the ability to actively sense their mechanical environment and respond to both substrate stiffness and stretch by altering their adhesion, proliferation, locomotion, morphology, and synthetic profile. In order to elucidate the interrelated effects of different mechanical stimuli on cell phenotype in vitro, we have developed a method for culturing mammalian cells in a two-dimensional environment at a wide range of combined levels of substrate stiffness and dynamic stretch. Polyacrylamide gels were covalently bonded to flexible silicone culture plates and coated with monomeric collagen for cell adhesion. Substrate stiffness was adjusted from relatively soft (G' = 0.3 kPa) to …
The Effect Of Substrate Stiffness, Thickness, And Cross-Linking Density On Osteogenic Cell Behavior, Kristen Billiar, Conleth Mullen, Ted Vaughan, Laoise Mcnamara
The Effect Of Substrate Stiffness, Thickness, And Cross-Linking Density On Osteogenic Cell Behavior, Kristen Billiar, Conleth Mullen, Ted Vaughan, Laoise Mcnamara
Kristen L. Billiar
Osteogenic cells respond to mechanical changes in their environment by altering their spread area, morphology, and gene expression profile. In particular, the bulk modulus of the substrate, as well as its microstructure and thickness, can substantially alter the local stiffness experienced by the cell. Although bone tissue regeneration strategies involve culture of bone cells on various biomaterial scaffolds, which are often cross-linked to enhance their physical integrity, it is difficult to ascertain and compare the local stiffness experienced by cells cultured on different biomaterials. In this study, we seek to characterize the local stiffness at the cellular level for MC3T3-E1 …