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Stiffness of Hydrogels Regulates Cellular Reprogramming Efficiency Through Mesenchymal‐to‐Epithelial Transition and Stemness Markers
Author(s) -
Choi Bogyu,
Park KwangSook,
Kim JiHo,
Ko KyoungWon,
Kim JinSu,
Han Dong Keun,
Lee SooHong
Publication year - 2016
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.201500273
Subject(s) - reprogramming , induced pluripotent stem cell , self healing hydrogels , microbiology and biotechnology , embryonic stem cell , mesenchymal stem cell , chemistry , cell , regulator , biophysics , biology , biochemistry , organic chemistry , gene
The stiffness of hydrogels has been reported to direct cell fate. Here, we found that the stiffness of hydrogels promotes the reprogramming of mouse embryonic fibroblasts into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). We prepared cell culture substrates of various stiffnesses (0.1, 1, 4, 10, and 20 kPa) using a polyacrylamide hydrogel. We found that culture on a soft hydrogel plays an important role in inducing cellular reprogramming into iPSCs via activation of mesenchymal‐to‐epithelial transition and enhancement of stemness marker expression. These results suggest that physical signals at the interface between cell and substrate can be used as a potent regulator to promote cell fate changes associated with reprogramming into iPSCs, which may lead to effective and reproducible iPSC‐production.