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Microstructural heterogeneity directs micromechanics and mechanobiology in native and engineered fibrocartilage.
- Source :
-
Nature materials [Nat Mater] 2016 Apr; Vol. 15 (4), pp. 477-84. Date of Electronic Publication: 2016 Jan 04. - Publication Year :
- 2016
-
Abstract
- Treatment strategies to address pathologies of fibrocartilaginous tissue are in part limited by an incomplete understanding of structure-function relationships in these load-bearing tissues. There is therefore a pressing need to develop micro-engineered tissue platforms that can recreate the highly inhomogeneous tissue microstructures that are known to influence mechanotransductive processes in normal and diseased tissue. Here, we report the quantification of proteoglycan-rich microdomains in developing, ageing and diseased fibrocartilaginous tissues, and the impact of these microdomains on endogenous cell responses to physiologic deformation within a native-tissue context. We also developed a method to generate heterogeneous tissue-engineered constructs (hetTECs) with non-fibrous proteoglycan-rich microdomains engineered into the fibrous structure, and show that these hetTECs match the microstructural, micromechanical and mechanobiological benchmarks of native tissue. Our tissue-engineered platform should facilitate the study of the mechanobiology of developing, homeostatic, degenerating and regenerating fibrous tissues.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Aged
Animals
Cattle
Cells, Cultured
Female
Fibrocartilage cytology
Humans
Male
Mesenchymal Stem Cells metabolism
Middle Aged
Tissue Engineering
Weight-Bearing
Calcium Signaling
Chondrocytes metabolism
Fibrocartilage metabolism
Mechanotransduction, Cellular
Proteoglycans metabolism
Stress, Mechanical
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1476-4660
- Volume :
- 15
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Nature materials
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 26726994
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4520