Harnessing cellular-derived forces in self-assembled microtissues to control the synthesis and alignment of ECM.

摘要: The alignment and blend of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins give a tissue its specific mechanical properties as well physiological function. Various engineering methods have taken purified ECM aligned them into gels, sponges threads. Although, each these has created ECM, they had many limitations including loss hierarchal collagen structure poor performance. Here, we developed new method to control synthesis using self-assembled cells. Cells were seeded custom designed, scaffold-free, micro-molds with fixed obstacles that harnessed directed cell-mediated stresses. within the microtissue reacted self-generated tension by aligning, elongating, synthesizing an whose organization was dictated strain field set our micro-mold design. We shown through cell selection, can create tissues II or elastin. also demonstrated microtissues in range natural mold design be used further tailor properties.