Revealing the dependence of cell spreading kinetics on its spreading morphology using microcontact printed bronectin patterns
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Publication Date
2014-12-03Journal Title
Journal of the Royal Society Interface
ISSN
1742-5689
Publisher
Royal Society
Volume
12
Language
English
Type
Article
Metadata
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Huang, C., & Donald, A. (2014). Revealing the dependence of cell spreading kinetics on its spreading morphology using microcontact printed bronectin patterns. Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 12 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.1064
Abstract
Since the dawn of the in vitro cell cultures, how cells interact and proliferate within a given external
environment has always been an important issue in the study of cell biology. It is now well-known that
mammalian cells typically exhibit a three phase sigmoid spreading on encountering a substrate. To further these understanding, we examined the in
uence of cell shape towards the second rapid expansion
phase of spreading. Specifically, 3T3 fibroblasts were seeded onto silicon elastomer films made from
polydimethylsiloxane, and micro-contact printed with various dimension of fibronectin stripes. Polydimethylsiloxane is adopted in our study for its biocompatibility, its ease in producing very smooth
surfaces, and in the fabrication of micro-contact printing stamps. The substrate patterns are compared
with respect to their in
uence on cell spreading over time. Our studies reveal, during the early rapid
expansion phase, 3T3 fibroblasts are found to spread radially following a ≈ t1:8 law; meanwhile, they
proliferated in a lengthwise fashion on the striped patterns, following a ≈ t1 law. We account for the
observed differences in kinetics through a simple geometric analysis which predicted similar trends. In
particular, a t2 law for radial spreading cells, and a t1 law for lengthwise spreading cells.
Sponsorship
C-K. Huang thank the Ministry of Education in Taiwan, and the Cambridge Overseas Trust for funding his PhD.
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.1064
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/246730
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