Eukaryotic cells within living tissues can affect important physiological processes such as apoptosis and cell migration based on dynamic pattern formation with spatially varying orientations. However, it is yet challenging to project a predesigned map of orientational order onto a growing tissue in the lab. In a new study now published on Science Advances, Taras Turiv and a research team in chemical physics, advanced materials and biomedical sciences at the Kent State University, Ohio, U.S., detailed a new approach to produce cell monolayers of human dermal fibroblasts. They predesigned the orientation patterns and topological defects using a photoaligned liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) that swelled anisotropically in an aqueous medium. The team inscribed the patterns into the LCE, and the tissue monolayer replicated the patterns to cause strong variations to cell phenotypes (size and shape), their surface density and number density fluctuations. The new approach can control the collective behavior of cells in living tissues during cell differentiation and tissue morphogenesis for broad applications in bioengineering and regenerative medicine.
Click here for original story, Topology control of human fibroblast cells monolayer by liquid crystal elastomer
Source: Phys.org