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Hydrogel Substrate Stiffness and Topography Interact to Induce Contact Guidance in Cardiac Fibroblasts
Author(s) -
AlHaque Shahed,
Miklas Jason W.,
Feric Nicole,
Chiu Loraine L. Y.,
Chen Wen Li Kelly,
Simmons Craig A.,
Radisic Milica
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
macromolecular bioscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.924
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1616-5195
pISSN - 1616-5187
DOI - 10.1002/mabi.201200042
Subject(s) - stiffness , fibroblast , substrate (aquarium) , biophysics , elongation , cardiac cell , biomedical engineering , chemistry , materials science , nanotechnology , microbiology and biotechnology , in vitro , composite material , biology , biochemistry , medicine , ultimate tensile strength , ecology
Previous studies demonstrated the importance of substrate stiffness and topography on the phenotype of many different cell types including fibroblasts. Yet the interaction of these two physical parameters remains insufficiently characterized, in particular for cardiac fibroblasts. Most studies focusing on contact guidance use rigid patterned substrates. It is not known how the ability of cardiac fibroblasts to follow grooves and ridges changes as the substrate stiffness is decreased to match the range of stiffness found in native heart tissues. This report demonstrates a significant interactive effect of substrate stiffness and topography on cardiac fibroblast elongation and orientation using polyacrylamide substrates of different stiffness and topography.