Crimped Electrospun Fibers Upregulate Ligamentogenic Gene Expression Via a Tension-Mediated Pathway
Date Issued
2015
Date
2015
Author(s)
Chang, Jefferson
Abstract
Electrospun fibrous crimped scaffolds have been studied as a biomimetic environment for ligament tissue engineering. Crimped microenvironments have been shown to improve ligamentogenic properties and scaffold mechanical strength, but the molecular mechanism of fiber crimp on cell phenotype has not yet been investigated. In this study, ACL fibroblasts were seeded on fibrous crimped scaffolds. Fiber crimp modulates cell morphology and cytoskeletal structure, implying a change in cell tension. Myosin plays a role in actin polymerization and reorganization, so this study investigates the role of myosin phosphorylation in the cellular response to a crimped morphology. Our results showed that cells seeded on crimped scaffolds had higher levels of myosin expression. When treated with ROCK inhibitor Y27632 or MLCK inhibitor ML-7, which reduce the levels of myosin phosphorylation, ligamentogenic gene expression of cells on straight and crimped fibers had no significant differences. These results imply that myosin and cell tension are responsible for mediating the effect of crimp morphology on ACL fibroblasts.
Subjects
Ligament and Tendon Gene Expression
Biomimetic Materials
Microstructure
Type
thesis
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