这个项目被支持由研究生学生研究国外程序 (NSC-101-2917-I-007-010);生物医学工程项目 (NSC-101-2221-E-007-032-MY3);和纳米技术国家计划 (NSC-101-2120-M-007-001-) 的侨生，台湾国家科学委员会。作者想要感谢阿里 Khademhosseini，荷兰货币恰姆彻纳尔，阿格保罗教授和哈佛大学医学院嵘利廖分享的水凝胶和单元格的封装技术。

1. GelMA Synthesis
<ol>
	<li>Weigh 10 g of gelatin powder and add it to a glass flask with 100 mL ofDulbecco&#39;s phosphate-buffered saline (DPBS). Put a magnetic stir bar into the flask and place the flask on a stirring hot plate.</li>
	<li>Cover the flask with aluminum foil to avoid water evaporation. Set the hot plate temperature to 50-60 &#176;C and the stirrer at 100 rpm for 1 h to dissolve the gelatin powder well.</li>
	<li>After the gelatin has dissolved, add 8 mL of methacrylic anhydride very slowly (one drop per second) using a pipette. Let it react at 60 &#176;C for 3 h.</li>
	<li>Add pre-warmed DPBS (40 &#176;C) to the flask to a final volume of 500 mL and allow this mix well for 15 min to stop the reaction.</li>
	<li>Meanwhile, cut a dialysis membrane (14 kDa cut-off molecular weight) into several 25 cm-long tubes. Immerse them in deionized (DI) water for 15 min and make a knot to close one end of the dialysis tubes.</li>
	<li>Load the appropriate amount (30 - 60 mL) of the polymer solution into the dialysis tubes and close the other end. Place them in a 5-L plastic beaker with DI water for a week. Renew the DI water twice a day and maintain the solution at 40 - 50 &#176;C during the dialysis process.</li>
	<li>Collect the solution from the tube in a 500-mL glass bottle. Pour ~450 - 500 mL of solution in a 500-mL filter cup (pore size of 0.22 &#181;m) and apply a vacuum to the filter cup to force the solution to pass through the filter membrane for sterilization.</li>
	<li>Transfer the sterilized polymer into several 50-mL sterilized tubes and store them in a -80 &#176;C freezer for 3 - 5 days.</li>
	<li>Freeze-dry the -80 &#176;C polymer for 1 week using a freeze dryer to form GelMA. Store the GelMA in a -80 &#176;C freezer.</li>
</ol>
2. 3-(Trimethoxysilyl)propyl Methacrylate (TMSPMA) Modification
<ol>
	<li>&#160;Cut commercial glass slides into two small pieces (25 mm x 37.5 mm) and immerse them in 0.5 M NaOH solution for 4 h. Wash the slides with a large amount of DI water.</li>
	<li>Place the slide on a rack inside a glass container with 95% ethanol and clean using an ultrasonicator at 43 kHz for 15 min. Air dry the glass slide.</li>
	<li>Immerse the glass slides in 5% TMSPMA in 99.5% ethanol for 1 h.</li>
	<li>Wash the slides in 95% ethanol, air dry the slides, and anneal the TMSPMA coating in an oven at 80 &#176;C for 2 h.</li>
</ol>
3. Chip Fabrication
<ol>
	<li>Take one 2 mm- and one 0.3 mm-thick polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) plate, apply double-sided tape to one side of the PMMA surface, and release the liner on one side. Leave two 2 mm-thick PMMA plates and one 1 mm-thick plate without double-sided tape.</li>
	<li>Laser-cut a 2 mm-thick PMMA plate without double-sided tape to 42 mm x 30 mm to make the bottom plate. Cut a 2 mm-thick PMMA plate with double-sided tape to make the boundary frame, with outer dimensions of 42 mm x 30 mm and inner dimensions of 37.5 mm x 25 mm.</li>
	<li>Laser-cut the 0.3 mm-thick PMMA plate with double-sided tape into a 12-mm center circle with two 2 mm-wide and 8 mm-long flow channels on opposite sides of the circle (Figure 1a).</li>
	<li>To prepare the PMMA mold for casting the PDMS cover, assemble the three pieces of PMMA components from steps 3.2-3.3 (Figure 1b) using double-sided tape.</li>
	<li>Laser-cut a 2 mm-thick PMMA plate with double-sided tape into a 5 cm x 5 cm piece with a 3 x 3 array of 8.5 mm x 8.5 mm hollow rectangles. Cut another 5 cm x 5 cm piece with a 3 x 3 array of 4-mm hollow circles. Laser-cut a 1 mm-thick PMMA plate without double-sided tape into a 5 cm x 5 cm PMMA bottom plate.</li>
	<li>Prepare the PMMA mold for casting the PDMS plug by assembling the three pieces of PMMA components from step 3.5 (Figure 1c) using double-sided tape.</li>
	<li>Prepare the PDMS cover and PDMS plug by properly mixing 30 g of PDMS elastomer and 3 g of PDMS curing agent; degas the mixture under a vacuum chamber for 1 h.</li>
	<li>Cast 1.8-2.0 g of the mixture into the PMMA mold for the PDMS cover and use the appropriate amount to fill each cavity of the PMMA mold for the PDMS plug. Cast 10 g of uncured PDMS mixture in a blank 10-cm plastic plate. Put these molds in a vacuum chamber to degas for 30 min.</li>
	<li>Cure the PDMS for 2 h at 80 &#176;C. After cooling down the cured PDMS on the mold, detach the PDMS covers and the PDMS plugs from the PMMA molds.</li>
	<li>Punch two holes with diameters of about 3 mm at the ends of flow channels of the PDMS covers.</li>
	<li>Cut the PDMS sheet molded from the 10-cm plastic plate into many 1 cm x 1 cm cubes and punch a 3-mm hole in each PDMS cube. Glue two uncured 1 cm x 1 cm PDMS cubes onto the openings of the PDMS cover (to serve as medium reservoirs and to aid in the curing process of the gradient circular hydrogel patterns) and cure for 1 h at 80 &#176;C.</li>
	<li>Bond the PDMS covers with the two PDMS reservoirs onto a TMSPMA-coated slide by pre-treating the bonding side of the PDMS cover and the TMSPMA-coated slide under an oxygen plasma machine (30 W RF power (high mode) and 600 mTorr compressed air) or a high-frequency electronic corona generator (115 V, 50/60 Hz, 0.35 A) for 90 s of O2 plasma treatment.</li>
	<li>Contact the plasma-treated surface of the PDMS covers and the TMSPMA slide and press them closely for permanent bonding through the formation of an Si-O-Si bond. 
	NOTE: Placing the chip in an oven at 80 &#176;C for 1 h can further enhance the bonding strength.</li>
	<li>After cooling, immerse the chips in 95% ethanol for 15 min and air dry. Then, sterilize the chips under UV irradiation for 1 h and store them in a box wrapped in aluminum foil in the laminar hood.</li>
</ol>
4. Static Gradient Strain on the Cell-laden Hydrogel
<ol>
	<li>Print and cut a piece of photomask, 25 mm x 37.5 mm in size, by printing the layout in Figure 2b on a transparent film. Adjust the printed size of Figure 2b to match the dimension in Figure 2a.</li>
	<li>Prepare 100 mL of DMEM medium with 10% FBS, 1% Pen-Strep, and 250 mL of DPBS in a 37 &#176;C water bath to use as the cell culture medium.</li>
	<li>Weigh 25 mg of freeze-dried GelMA into 0.3 mL of prewarmed (37 &#176;C) cell culture medium in a 1.5-mL black microcentrifuge tube. Put the microcentrifuge tube on a laboratory stirrer/hot plate until the GelMA dissolves in the medium.</li>
	<li>Weigh 50 mg of photoinitiator into 1 ml of DPBS in a microcentrifuge tube and place it in an 80 &#176;C oven for 15 min or until the photoinitiator has dissolved.</li>
	<li>Take 25 &#181;L of the 10% photoinitiator from step 4.4 and add it to the microcentrifuge tube from step 4.3. Pipette several times to mix well.</li>
	<li>Count 3 x 106 NIH 3T3 cells using an automated cell counter. Centrifuge the suspension at 200 x g for 5 min, discard the supernatant, and re-suspend the cells in 175 &#181;L of cell culture medium.</li>
	<li>Add the cell solution from step 4.6 to the microcentrifuge tube from step 4.5 to get a prepolymer cell solution of 5% GelMA, 0.5% photoinitiator, and ~6 x 106 3T3 cells/mL. After mixing, load 100 &#181;L of cell prepolymer in a 100-&#181;L micro syringe.</li>
	<li>Manually align (see Figure 3a) a piece of the photomask onto the bottom slide of the sterilized gradient strain chip and simply fix the position using a small drop of DI water in between. Connect the 100-&#181;L micro-syringe loaded with prepolymer cell solution to the inlet of the chip.</li>
	<li>Place (see Figure 3b) 50 &#181;L of prepolymer cell solution in the flow channel using the micro-syringe and then plug the outlet using a PDMS plug. Inject an extra 40 &#181;L of solution to create a convex bulge in the circular PDMS membrane.</li>
	<li>Move the chip with the photomask (bottom), micro-syringe (inlet), and PDMS plug (outlet) from step 4.9 under a UV lamp (365 nm, 9 mW/cm2) and expose it for 30 - 45 s to crosslink the concentric circular hydrogel in the fluidic chamber.</li>
	<li>Remove the PDMS plug and the micro-syringe to release the liquid pressure (see Figure 3c). Use a 1-mL syringe loaded with prewarmed DPBS to wash out uncrosslinked resins 3 times by flushing from the inlet to the outlet.</li>
	<li>Fill the flow channel with about 100 &#181;L of cell culture medium.</li>
	<li>Place the chip in a sterilized culture dish and culture in a 5% CO2 atmosphere at 37 &#176;C for a week. Refresh the medium every day.</li>
	<li>Take images of three chips on day 0 after 4 h of incubation, as a control group, and three chips on day 3, as the experimental set, using a microscope with a 20X objective. Measure the line width of each hydrogel from line 1 to line 12 using software (e.g., ImageJ) to calculate the compress strains ( Figure 4). 
	NOTE: The elongation percentage is calculated by dividing the value of the line width difference between 40 &#181;L and 0 &#181;L by the line width at 40 &#181;L.</li>
</ol>
5. Cell Staining for Alignment Analysis
<ol>
	<li>Use a syringe to inject 4% paraformaldehyde (PFA) in DPBS at RT into the flow chip for 15 min for the fixation of the cell-laden hydrogel. 
	NOTE: Caution. PFA is toxic and should be handled with care.</li>
	<li>Replace the solution with 0.5% cell membrane permeating solution in DPBS for 10 min to permeabilize the cell membrane at RT.</li>
	<li>PBS wash the samples 3 times with 5- to 10-min interval between washes (using a loaded syringe, as in step 5.1).</li>
	<li>Load 1% BSA solution into the fluidic channel for 45-60 min at RT (using a loaded syringe through the inlet port).</li>
	<li>Add 1.5 mL of methanol into the vial with Alexa Fluor 488 phalloidin to yield a final concentration of 6.6 &#181;M stock solution.</li>
	<li>Take 5 &#181;L of Alexa Fluor 488 phalloidin from step 5.5 and dilute it in 200 &#181;L of DPBS with 0.1% BSA to form a final concentration of 0.165 &#181;M Alexa Fluor 488 phalloidin.</li>
	<li>Add 200 &#181;L of the mixture solution to the fluidic channel using a micropipette and incubate the chip at 37 &#176;C for 45 - 60 min for actin staining. PBS wash (as above) the samples 3 times.</li>
	<li>Prepare 1 &#181;g/mL DAPI in PBS, flow it through the chip, and stain cell nuclei at 37 &#176;C for 5 min.</li>
	<li>Pipette DPBS into the fluidic channel to wash out the staining solution and refill the fluidic chamber with PBS solution to take images with a fluorescence microscope.</li>
	<li>Capture the fluorescent images of the 3T3 cells in the hydrogels using an inverted fluorescence microscope under 40X magnification with a CCD detector and filter sets of ex/em at 488/520 nm and 358/461 nm for Alexa Fluor 488 phalloidin (actin) and DAPI (nucleus), respectively.</li>
</ol>

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作者没有透露。

在本文中，我们报告一个简单的方法来比较水凝胶形状指导和拉伸拉伸后的单元格对齐方式行为。灵活的 PDMS 膜创建用于生成不同高度的同心圆形水凝胶圆顶形的曲率。后释放压力，PDMS 膜自动适用力于微图案水凝胶形成梯度应变延伸，与中心的最大值和最小值外, 边界处。应变梯度的形成由灵活的 PDMS 膜和处理的流控芯片设计的正应参加的几个重要参数: (i) 精确控制厚度的聚二甲基硅氧烷膜是关键要调整应变梯度值。如果膜太厚，甚至最大注射量的细胞预聚体不能在单元格拉丹水凝胶梯度高度交联的聚二甲基硅氧烷膜中生成适当的凸曲线。相比之下，太薄的聚二甲基硅氧烷膜，不能适用水凝胶的足够的力量。请检查未硫化聚二甲基硅氧烷 PDMS 盖模具的重量是大约 1.6-2.0 g 每个芯片。（在流控芯片单元格拉丹水凝胶交联处理期间，ii） 污染防治是非常重要的。在细胞培养中孵化器、 彻底与流体通道中无菌的 PBS 洗涤和使用 75%乙醇擦拭表面的芯片可以帮助避免污染问题。（iii） 光引发剂浓度及紫外线照射的剂量必须小心控制并在范围内的 ~0.1%-2%（推荐 0.5%）。在交联水凝胶和吸食了过量的紫外线照射会导致低细胞活力。（iv） 图案的水凝胶线宽度不应太大。否则，在厚厚的水凝胶中的养分替代率不能够支持细胞增殖。通常，建议使用小于 300 µ m。水凝胶的两个圆之间的间距也可多种多样，并建议 50%工作周期。（v） 在洗涤或加气流道的解决方案时，应避免泡沫的形成。轻轻地吹打在芯片解决方案可以有助于消除气泡。
梯度应变产生的聚二甲基硅氧烷变形曲率的概念可以进一步升级到应用动态梯度菌株，可以结合生化刺激，功能性组织再生的许多研究都可以受惠。简单的流体注入模块与 PDMS 插头可以由任何先进的射流扩展实验控制系统取代。PMMA 模具也可以超微型苏 8 模具或批量蚀刻硅模具所取代。
这个梯度应变片圆形细胞满载水凝胶可以生成静态的压缩力，在没有外部机械或电气机器的 3D 水凝胶。因此，它为研究细胞行为的一系列的应变条件，而没有风险的外部机器操作引起的污染问题提供快速筛选平台。然而，时间控制应变刺激不是可以实现的因为 PDMS 膜生成株直到退化的水凝胶。

作为模仿一个本机的微环境块材料，含细胞外基质 (ECM) 水凝胶可以重新生成仿生支架支持细胞的生长。拥有组织的职能，组织单元格对齐方式是一项基本要求。各种 （即，细胞表面） 2D 和 3D （即，封装在水凝胶的细胞） 培养或封装细胞中或与微型柔性衬底上取得了单元格对齐方式-或纳米模式1。在微体系结构的三维单元格对齐方式是更有吸引力，因为微环境是更接近于自然组织构造2，，34。三维单元格对齐方式的一个常用方法是水凝胶形状2，3的几何提示。由于细胞增殖在短轴方向的受限空间，细胞目的沿微图案的水凝胶的长轴方向对齐。另一种方法是适用于凝胶来实现单元格对齐方式平行于拉伸方向4，5拉抻。
生物物理刺激对 ECM 的水凝胶，如压缩应变或电场的作用，能调节细胞功能的适当组织一体化、 增殖和分化1，，23。很多研究已经通过使用多个机械控制单位4，6，7，，89一次应用一个应变条件探讨细胞行为。例如，机械步进电动机使用挤压或拉伸对 3D 封装细胞胶原凝胶一直共同的办法7，10。然而，这种控制的设备需要额外空间并面临孵化器7，9，，1112中受污染的问题。此外，大型仪器不能精确的控制环境，以提供高重复性13。
考虑到单元格拉丹水凝胶通常受雇在微尺度生物医学应用，它有利于结合 MEMS 技术来生成一个范围的应变/拉伸刺激同时探讨细胞行为在 3D 仿生构造体外2，14，15，16，，1718。例如，利用气体压力变形聚二甲基硅氧烷膜在微流控芯片可以引起不同品系，开车去不同的谱系9，16细胞分化。然而，有许多技术难题，如在一个干净的房间和软件控制集成的电机、 泵、 阀门和压缩的气体的复杂的芯片制造工艺。
在这项工作，我们演示了一个简单的方法来获得自我维持的梯度静态应变微流控芯片采用同心圆形水凝胶模式和灵活的 PDMS 膜。不同于大多数现有的方法，我们的平台是便携式和一次性使用的微型设备，可以制作黄色房间外面并拥有自生梯度菌株对同心细胞封装水凝胶，无需外部机械设备孵化期间。3T3 成纤维细胞细胞行为受水凝胶形状组合和期间的观察 3 天内 3D ECM 拟态环境梯度应变片在单元格对齐方式显示出各种拉伸弹力的指导线索。

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="1383">
	<tbody>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">1.5-mL black microcentrifuge tube</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Argos Technologies&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">03-391-161</td>
			<td style="width:665px;">This one can be replaced with a neutral color of 1.5-mL tube covered with aluminun foil</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">10X DPBS</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">56064C</td>
			<td style="width:665px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">Alexa Fluor 488 phalloidin&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Invitrogen</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">A12379&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:665px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">BSA</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Sigma</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">A1595</td>
			<td style="width:665px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">Calcein</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Molecular Probe</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">C1430</td>
			<td style="width:665px;">For labeling viable cells</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">CCD</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">PCO. Imaging</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">Pixelfly qe</td>
			<td style="width:665px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">Cell membrane permeating solution</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">X100</td>
			<td style="width:665px;">0.5% Triton X-100 for permeating cell membrane</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">DAPI</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">D8417</td>
			<td style="width:665px;">Cell nucleus staining</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">Dialysis membrane</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">D9527</td>
			<td style="width:665px;">Molecular weight cut-off = 14,000</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">DMEM</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Gibco</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">11995-065</td>
			<td style="width:665px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">Double-side tape</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">3M</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">8003</td>
			<td style="width:665px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">FBS</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Hyclone</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">SH30071.03</td>
			<td style="width:665px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">Gelatin</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">G2500</td>
			<td style="width:665px;">gel strength 300, type A, from porcine skin</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">High frequency electronic corona generator</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Electro-technic products</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">MODEL BD-20</td>
			<td style="width:665px;"></td>
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		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">Methacrylic Anhydride</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">276685</td>
			<td style="width:665px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">Micro syringe</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Hamilton</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">80501</td>
			<td style="width:665px;">50 &#956;L&#160;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">Microscope</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Olympus</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">IX71</td>
			<td style="width:665px;">Include two filter sets: LF405/LP-B-000 and LF488/LP-C-000 from Semrock</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">Oxygen plasma machine</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Harrick plasma</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">PDC-001</td>
			<td style="width:665px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">Paraformaldehyde</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">P6148</td>
			<td style="width:665px;">For fixing cell</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">PDMS</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">DOW CORNING</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">Sylgard 184</td>
			<td style="width:665px;">Mixture for PDMS chip cast-molding fabrication</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">Pen-Strep</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Gibco</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">10378-016</td>
			<td style="width:665px;">penicillin/streptomycin</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">Photoinitiator</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">CIBA</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">Irgacure 2959</td>
			<td style="width:665px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">Propidium iodide</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">P4170</td>
			<td style="width:665px;">For labeling dead cells</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">Sterile Filtration cup</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Millipore</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">SCGPT05RE</td>
			<td style="width:665px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">TMSPMA</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">440159</td>
			<td style="width:665px;">For hydrogel immobilization</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">Ultrasonicator</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Delta</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">D150H</td>
			<td style="width:665px;">150W, 43kHz</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">UV light</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">DAIHAN</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">WUV-L10</td>
			<td style="width:665px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">Freeze Dryer</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">FIRSTEK</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">150311025</td>
			<td style="width:665px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">NIH3T3(fibroblast)</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">Food Industry Research and Development Institute(FIRDI)</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">08C0011</td>
			<td style="width:665px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:337px;">MOXI Z Mini Automated Cell Counter</td>
			<td style="width:225px;">ORFLO</td>
			<td style="width:156px;">MXZ001</td>
			<td style="width:665px;"></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

gradient strain chip for stimulating cellular behaviors in cell-laden hydrogel

人工指导细胞对齐方式是在组织工程领域的热点话题。大部分的先前的研究已经进行单个单元格拉丹的水凝胶应变诱导细胞对准使用复杂的实验过程和质量控制系统，这是通常与污染问题。因此，在本文中，我们提出一种构建流控芯片用塑料的聚二甲基硅氧烷盖和紫外透明的玻璃基板，刺激的 3D 水凝胶的细胞行为的静态应变梯度的简单方法。超载的照片; 细胞预聚物中射流室可以生成凸曲线的 PDMS 膜在封面上。紫外光交联后通过弯曲的聚二甲基硅氧烷膜和缓冲区洗，调查细胞微环境下的同心圆形优缺点行为下个变种的梯度是自建在单一的流控芯片，没有外部文书。观察到的几何在指导下，在合作与应变刺激，相差 15-65%的水凝胶细胞对齐趋势变化后论证了 NIH3T3 细胞。后 3 天孵化，水凝胶几何主导下低的压应变，单元格对齐方式哪里细胞沿水凝胶伸长率高的压缩应变下的方向排列。这些，之间细胞细胞随机对齐方式由于耗散的激进指导的水凝胶伸长和图案的水凝胶的几何指导。

若要比较每个循环的水凝胶在完成的应变梯度刺激芯片之间的机械变化，我们分别测量中的两个相同的芯片，具有 0 微升 (图 4a) 注射量和 40 µ L (图 4b)，每个循环水凝胶的线条宽度。%伸长率每个圆圈都伸长 40 µ L 注射芯片中的除以相应的水凝胶在 0 微升注射芯片 (图 4 c) 的线宽。水凝胶是一种不可压缩的材料，所以垂直订约应变将相当于横向伸长应变。因此，芯片与 40 µ L 注射量的百分比理论伸长值的修正显示 15 65%伸长，可以转换为压缩应变 （见补充文件 1）。
荧光染色细胞核和 F-肌动蛋白与 DAPI 和鬼笔，分别进行了分析的细胞的对齐方式。DAPI 染色提供了关于核定位数据和鬼笔染色用于评估细胞传播。图 5a-c显示单元格对齐方式中梯度应变片。在第 1 行，3T3 细胞沿径向方向排列。在凝胶 7，细胞随机，对齐和单元格对齐沿圆周方向在第 12 行。根据荧光染色图像，发现了带长轴对齐 （水凝胶最低伸长率在径向方向） 12 行中的单元格的对齐方式角度 90 ° 转向视角下的单元格对齐方式的 3T3 细胞 （伸长率最高的水凝胶在径向方向） 1 号线。
在以前研究2，9，在 200-µ m 线图案水凝胶的细胞目的对齐沿长轴方向的水凝胶。然而，在这个研究中，我们观察到 200 微米水凝胶在短轴方向拉长伸展动作所产生的影响和支配的细胞的对齐方式通过控制应变对水凝胶的百分比的另一个因素。1 号线 65%应变，激进的对齐方式证明水凝胶伸长拉伸占主导地位的单元格对齐方式。对于 15%应变第 12 行，圆对齐方式证明了长轴效应占主导地位的单元格对齐方式。水凝胶 7 40%应变，细胞随机排列由于中立化几何指导和应变效应。
<img alt="Figure 1" class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/53715/53715fig1.jpg"> 
图 1.聚二甲基硅氧烷薄板和插头制作 PMMA 母亲模具。(a)分离的组分的 PMMA 模具，包括底板、 边框架和流道。装配后用双面胶带，形成了(b)流量表 PMMA 母亲模具。(c)另一个 PMMA 模具组装而成的聚二甲基硅氧烷堵塞。红色数字表示深度。(单位: mm)<a href="//ecsource-jove-com.remotexs.ntu.edu.sg/files/ftp_upload/53715/53715fig1large.jpg" target="_blank">请点击这里查看此图的大版本。</a>
<img alt="Figure 2" class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/53715/53715fig2.jpg"> 
图 2.单元格拉丹水凝胶优缺点塑料光掩模设计。有两个开口三角形形状 （2 毫米在底线和高度 6.5 毫米） 连接到流渠道供应新鲜细胞培养基。(a)塑料光掩模标记与维度。同心圆段是 400 毫微米和占空比是 50%。中心圆的直径为 2 毫米 (b)光掩模布局，没有塑料的透明薄膜激光打印的标签。<a href="//ecsource-jove-com.remotexs.ntu.edu.sg/files/ftp_upload/53715/53715fig2large.jpg" target="_blank">请点击这里查看此图的大版本。</a>
<img alt="Figure 3" class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/53715/53715fig3.jpg"> 
图 3。制造工艺的渐变应变沿径向方向的单元格拉丹水凝胶在 PDMS 流控芯片。(a)塑料光掩膜与对齐，并根据芯片在一起，TMSPMA 涂覆的流体通道。与预聚体的细胞液微注射器是插入到芯片的入口和用于注入约 50 µ L 填补流通道。(b)流道出口关闭与 PDMS 插头和注入额外 40 µ L 的预聚体的细胞液。玻璃底部是 UV 图案为 30 s 制作同心圆形水凝胶流芯片中的。(c)液体的压力被释放在流道中拔出插座和联合国交联混合物被淘汰掉的新方案。(d)与静态应变梯度的芯片适用准备细胞培养的同心单元格拉丹的水凝胶。在紫外交联过程中，形成了(e)水凝胶沿半径非连续梯度高度。（f） 后拔出插座，PDMS 膜变得平坦和梯度压力对细胞封装的水凝胶。<a href="//ecsource-jove-com.remotexs.ntu.edu.sg/files/ftp_upload/53715/53715fig3large.jpg" target="_blank">请点击这里查看此图的大版本。</a>
<img alt="Figure 4" class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/53715/53715fig4.jpg"> 
图 4。纯净水凝胶伸长率梯度。伸长的线宽和无细胞封装在渐变中的纯净水凝胶的百分比应变芯片第 3 天与(a) 0 微升 （对照组） 和(b) 40 µ L 注射量。(c)除以 40 µ L 的线宽线宽度差 40 µ L 和 0 µ L 之间的值计算得出伸长率是<a href="//ecsource-jove-com.remotexs.ntu.edu.sg/files/ftp_upload/53715/53715fig4large.jpg" target="_blank">请点击这里查看此图的大版本。</a>
<img alt="Figure 5" class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/53715/53715fig5.jpg"> 
图 5.荧光的肌动蛋白核染色图像的 3T3 细胞中天 3 上的梯度芯片的封装。单元格对齐方向(g-i)第 12 行，第 1 行(c) 、 (d f)一行 7 人，揭示径向对齐、 随机对齐和圆形的对齐方式，分别。绿色和蓝色颜色分别显示肌动蛋白和核的污渍。白色虚线表示水凝胶的边界。条码秤: 200 µ m.<a href="//ecsource-jove-com.remotexs.ntu.edu.sg/files/ftp_upload/53715/53715fig5large.jpg" target="_blank">请点击这里查看此图的大版本。</a>
补充的图 1。的圆顶状的聚二甲基硅氧烷曲率计算。H(x): 凸的聚二甲基硅氧烷曲线;H0: 聚二甲基硅氧烷圆顶变形; 前后最大高度差异: 半径圆顶;五: 蓝色的区域，这将导致一个圆顶的聚二甲基硅氧烷变形过度的注射量。有关详细信息请参阅补充文件 1 。<a href="//ecsource-jove-com.remotexs.ntu.edu.sg/files/ftp_upload/53715/Supplementary_Figure_1.tif" target="_blank">请点击这里下载此图。</a>
补充文件 1。<a href="//ecsource-jove-com.remotexs.ntu.edu.sg/files/ftp_upload/53715/Supplementary_File_1-SI.docx" target="_blank">请点击这里下载此文件。</a>

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Gradient Strain Chip for Stimulating Cellular Behaviors in Cell-laden Hydrogel at JoVE.com

Gradient Strain Chip for Stimulating Cellular Behaviors in Cell-laden Hydrogel

这篇文章介绍了一个简单的方法，对提供非连续梯度静态菌株对同心单元格拉丹水凝胶来调节单元格对齐方式为组织工程。

在单元格拉丹水凝胶中刺激细胞行为的应变梯度芯片

Artificial guidance for cellular alignment is a hot topic in the field of tissue engineering. Most of the previous research has investigated single ...

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Nanyang Technological University

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Bioengineering

7.8K 次观看.  National Tsing Hua University. 这篇文章介绍了一个简单的方法，对提供非连续梯度静态菌株对同心单元格拉丹水凝胶来调节单元格对齐方式为组织工程。

视频: Gradient Strain Chip for Stimulating Cellular Behaviors in Cell-laden Hydrogel

Encapsulation of Cardiomyocytes in a Fibrin Hydrogel for Cardiac Tissue Engineering

Culturing cells in a three dimensional hydrogel environment is an important technique for developing constructs for tissue engineering as well as studying cellular responses under various culture conditions in vitro. The three dimensional environment more closely mimics what the cells observe in vivo due to the application of mechanical and chemical stimuli in all dimensions 1. Three-dimensional hydrogels can either be made from synthetic polymers such as PEG-DA 2 and PLGA 3 or a number of naturally occurring proteins such as collagen 4, hyaluronic acid 5 or fibrin 6,7. Hydrogels created from fibrin, a naturally occurring blood clotting protein, can polymerize to form a mesh that is part of the body's natural wound healing processes 8. Fibrin is cell-degradable and potentially autologous 9, making it an ideal temporary scaffold for tissue engineering.
Here we describe in detail the isolation of neonatal cardiomyocytes from three day old rat pups and the preparation of the cells for encapsulation in fibrin hydrogel constructs for tissue engineering. Neonatal myocytes are a common cell source used for in vitro studies in cardiac tissue formation and engineering 4. Fibrin gel is created by mixing fibrinogen with the enzyme thrombin. Thrombin cleaves fibrinopeptides FpA and FpB from fibrinogen, revealing binding sites that interact with other monomers 10. These interactions cause the monomers to self-assemble into fibers that form the hydrogel mesh. Because the timing of this enzymatic reaction can be adjusted by altering the ratio of thrombin to fibrinogen, or the ratio of calcium to thrombin, one can injection mold constructs with a number of different geometries 11,12. Further we can generate alignment of the resulting tissue by how we constrain the gel during culture 13.
After culturing the engineered cardiac tissue constructs for two weeks under static conditions, the cardiac cells have begun to remodel the construct and can generate a contraction force under electrical pacing conditions 6. As part of this protocol, we also describe methods for analyzing the tissue engineered myocardium after the culture period including functional analysis of the active force generated by the cardiac muscle construct upon electrical stimulation, as well as methods for determining final cell viability (Live-Dead assay) and immunohistological staining to examine the expression and morphology of typical proteins important for contraction (Myosin Heavy Chain or MHC) and cellular coupling (Connexin 43 or Cx43) between myocytes.

We describe the isolation of neonatal cardiomyocytes and the preparation of the cells for encapsulation in fibrin hydrogel constructs for tissue engineering. We describe methods for analyzing the tissue engineered myocardium after the culture period including active force generated upon electrical stimulation and cell viability and immunohistological staining.

心肌在心脏组织工程中的纤维蛋白凝胶的封装

Culturing cells in a three dimensional hydrogel environment is an important technique for developing constructs for tissue engineering as well as studying ...

科研

生物工程

Cellular Lipid Extraction for Targeted Stable Isotope Dilution Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Analysis

The metabolism of fatty acids, such as arachidonic acid (AA) and linoleic acid (LA), results in the formation of oxidized bioactive lipids, including numerous stereoisomers1,2. These metabolites can be formed from free or esterified fatty acids. Many of these oxidized metabolites have biological activity and have been implicated in various diseases including cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, asthma, and cancer3-7. Oxidized bioactive lipids can be formed enzymatically or by reactive oxygen species (ROS). Enzymes that metabolize fatty acids include cyclooxygenase (COX), lipoxygenase (LO), and cytochromes P450 (CYPs)1,8. Enzymatic metabolism results in enantioselective formation whereas ROS oxidation results in the racemic formation of products.
While this protocol focuses primarily on the analysis of AA- and some LA-derived bioactive metabolites; it could be easily applied to metabolites of other fatty acids. Bioactive lipids are extracted from cell lysate or media using liquid-liquid (l-l) extraction. At the beginning of the l-l extraction process, stable isotope internal standards are added to account for errors during sample preparation. Stable isotope dilution (SID) also accounts for any differences, such as ion suppression, that metabolites may experience during the mass spectrometry (MS) analysis9. After the extraction, derivatization with an electron capture (EC) reagent, pentafluorylbenzyl bromide (PFB) is employed to increase detection sensitivity10,11. Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) is used to increase the selectivity of the MS analysis. Before MS analysis, lipids are separated using chiral normal phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The HPLC conditions are optimized to separate the enantiomers and various stereoisomers of the monitored lipids12. This specific LC-MS method monitors prostaglandins (PGs), isoprostanes (isoPs), hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids (HETEs), hydroxyoctadecadienoic acids (HODEs), oxoeicosatetraenoic acids (oxoETEs) and oxooctadecadienoic acids (oxoODEs); however, the HPLC and MS parameters can be optimized to include any fatty acid metabolites13.
Most of the currently available bioanalytical methods do not take into account the separate quantification of enantiomers. This is extremely important when trying to deduce whether or not the metabolites were formed enzymatically or by ROS. Additionally, the ratios of the enantiomers may provide evidence for a specific enzymatic pathway of formation. The use of SID allows for accurate quantification of metabolites and accounts for any sample loss during preparation as well as the differences experienced during ionization. Using the PFB electron capture reagent increases the sensitivity of detection by two orders of magnitude over conventional APCI methods. Overall, this method, SID-LC-EC-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization APCI-MRM/MS, is one of the most sensitive, selective, and accurate methods of quantification for bioactive lipids.

This protocol will demonstrate the extraction and analysis of free and esterified bioactive fatty acids from cells. Fatty acids are accurately quantified using stable isotope dilution, chiral liquid chromatography, electron capture atmospheric chemical ionization multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry (SID-LC-ECAPCI-MRM/MS).

有针对性的稳定同位素稀释液相色谱 - 质谱法分析细胞脂质提取

The metabolism of fatty acids, such as arachidonic acid (AA) and linoleic acid (LA), results in the formation of oxidized bioactive lipids, including ...

Cultivation of Human Neural Progenitor Cells in a 3-dimensional Self-assembling Peptide Hydrogel

The influence of 3-dimensional (3D) scaffolds on growth, proliferation and finally neuronal differentiation is of great interest in order to find new methods for cell-based and standardised therapies in neurological disorders or neurodegenerative diseases. 3D structures are expected to provide an environment much closer to the in vivo situation than 2D cultures. In the context of regenerative medicine, the combination of biomaterial scaffolds with neural stem and progenitor cells holds great promise as a therapeutic tool.1-5 Culture systems emulating a three dimensional environment have been shown to influence proliferation and differentiation in different types of stem and progenitor cells. Herein, the formation and functionalisation of the 3D-microenviroment is important to determine the survival and fate of the embedded cells.6-8 Here we used PuraMatrix9,10 (RADA16, PM), a peptide based hydrogel scaffold, which is well described and used to study the influence of a 3D-environment on different cell types.7,11-14 PuraMatrix can be customised easily and the synthetic fabrication of the nano-fibers provides a 3D-culture system of high reliability, which is in addition xeno-free.
Recently we have studied the influence of the PM-concentration on the formation of the scaffold.13 In this study the used concentrations of PM had a direct impact on the formation of the 3D-structure, which was demonstrated by atomic force microscopy. A subsequent analysis of the survival and differentiation of the hNPCs revealed an influence of the used concentrations of PM on the fate of the embedded cells. However, the analysis of survival or neuronal differentiation by means of immunofluorescence techniques posses some hurdles. To gain reliable data, one has to determine the total number of cells within a matrix to obtain the relative number of e.g. neuronal cells marked by &beta;III-tubulin. This prerequisites a technique to analyse the scaffolds in all 3-dimensions by a confocal microscope or a comparable technique like fluorescence microscopes able to take z-stacks of the specimen. Furthermore this kind of analysis is extremely time consuming. 
Here we demonstrate a method to release cells from the 3D-scaffolds for the later analysis e.g. by flow cytometry. In this protocol human neural progenitor cells (hNPCs) of the ReNcell VM cell line (Millipore USA) were cultured and differentiated in 3D-scaffolds consisting of PuraMatrix (PM) or PuraMatrix supplemented with laminin (PML). In our hands a PM-concentration of 0.25% was optimal for the cultivation of the cells13, however the concentration might be adapted to other cell types.12 The released cells can be used for e.g. immunocytochemical studies and subsequently analysed by flow cytometry. This speeds up the analysis and more over, the obtained data rest upon a wider base, improving the reliability of the data.

Here we describe the use of a self-assembling 3-dimensional scaffold to culture human neural progenitor cells. We present a protocol to release the cells from the scaffolds to be analysed subsequently e.g. by flow cytometry. This protocol might be adapted to other cell types to perform detailed mechanistically studies.

在三维自组装多肽水凝胶的人类神经祖细胞的培养

The  influence of 3-dimensional (3D) scaffolds on growth, proliferation and finally  neuronal differentiation is of great interest in order to find new ...

Electrotaxis Studies of Lung Cancer Cells using a Multichannel Dual-electric-field Microfluidic Chip

The behavior of directional cell migration under a direct current electric-field (dcEF) is referred to as electrotaxis. The significant role of physiological dcEF in guiding cell movement during embryo development, cell differentiation, and wound healing has been demonstrated in many studies. By applying microfluidic chips to an electrotaxis assay, the investigation process is shortened and experimental errors are minimized. In recent years, microfluidic devices made of polymeric substances (e.g., polymethylmethacrylate, PMMA, or acrylic) or polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) have been widely used in studying the responses of cells to electrical stimulation. However, unlike the numerous steps required to fabricate a PDMS device, the simple and rapid construction of the acrylic micro&#64258;uidic chip makes it suitable for both device prototyping and production. Yet none of the reported devices facilitate the efficient study of the simultaneous chemical and dcEF effects on cells. In this report, we describe our design and fabrication of an acrylic-based multichannel dual-electric-field (MDF) chip to investigate the concurrent effect of chemical and electrical stimulation on lung cancer cells. The MDF chip provides eight combinations of electrical/chemical stimulations in a single test. The chip not only greatly shortens the required experimental time but also increases accuracy in electrotaxis studies.

Many microfluidic devices have been developed for use in the study of electrotaxis. Yet, none of these chips allows the efficient study of the simultaneous chemical and electric-field (EF) effects on cells. We developed a polymethylmethacrylate-based device that offers better-controlled coexisting EF and chemical stimulation for use in electrotaxis research.

使用多通道双电场微流控芯片肺癌细胞Electrotaxis研究

The behavior of directional cell migration under a direct current electric-field (dcEF) is referred to as electrotaxis. The significant role of ...

Construction of Modular Hydrogel Sheets for Micropatterned Macro-scaled 3D Cellular Architecture

Hydrogels can be patterned at the micro-scale using microfluidic or micropatterning technologies to provide an in vivo-like three-dimensional (3D) tissue geometry. The resulting 3D hydrogel-based cellular constructs have been introduced as an alternative to animal experiments for advanced biological studies, pharmacological assays and organ transplant applications. Although hydrogel-based particles and fibers can be easily fabricated, it is difficult to manipulate them for tissue reconstruction. In this video, we describe a fabrication method for micropatterned alginate hydrogel sheets, together with their assembly to form a macro-scale 3D cell culture system with a controlled cellular microenvironment. Using a mist form of the calcium gelling agent, thin hydrogel sheets are easily generated with a thickness in the range of 100 - 200 &#181;m, and with precise micropatterns. Cells can then be cultured with the geometric guidance of the hydrogel sheets in freestanding conditions. Furthermore, the hydrogel sheets can be readily manipulated using a micropipette with an end-cut tip, and can be assembled into multi-layered structures by stacking them using a patterned polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) frame. These modular hydrogel sheets, which can be fabricated using a facile process, have potential applications of in vitro drug assays and biological studies, including functional studies of micro- and macrostructure and tissue reconstruction.

We describe the fabrication of micropatterned hydrogel sheets using a simple process, which can be assembled and manipulated in a freestanding form. Using these modular hydrogel sheets, a simple macro-scaled 3D cell culture system can be generated with a controlled cellular microenvironment.

构建模块化水凝胶片的微模式化宏观缩放3D细胞结构

Hydrogels can be patterned at the micro-scale using microfluidic or micropatterning technologies to provide an in vivo-like three-dimensional (3D) tissue ...

Improved 3D Hydrogel Cultures of Primary Glial Cells for In Vitro Modelling of Neuroinflammation

In the central nervous system, numerous acute injuries and neurodegenerative disorders, as well as implanted devices or biomaterials engineered to enhance function result in the same outcome: excess inflammation leads to gliosis, cytotoxicity, and/or formation of a glial scar that collectively exacerbate injury or prevent healthy recovery. With the intent of creating a system to model glial scar formation and study inflammatory processes, we have generated a 3D cell scaffold capable of housing primary cultured glial cells: microglia that regulate the foreign body response and initiate the inflammatory event, astrocytes that respond to form a fibrous scar, and oligodendrocytes that are typically vulnerable to inflammatory injury. The present work provides a detailed step-by-step method for the fabrication, culture, and microscopic characterization of a hyaluronic acid-based 3D hydrogel scaffold with encapsulated rat brain-derived glial cells. Further, protocols for characterization of cell encapsulation and the hydrogel scaffold by confocal immunofluorescence and scanning electron microscopy are demonstrated, as well as the capacity to modify the scaffold with bioactive substrates, with incorporation of a commercial basal lamina mixture to improved cell integration.

Improved 3D Hydrogel Cultures of Primary Glial Cells for In Vitro Modelling of Neuroinflammation

Herein, we present a protocol for the 3D culture of rat brain-derived glia cells, including astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes. We demonstrate primary cell culture, methacrylated hyaluronic acid (HAMA) hydrogel synthesis, HAMAphoto-polymerization and cell encapsulation, and sample processing for confocal and scanning electron microscopic imaging.

改良的3D 水凝胶培养的原发胶质细胞的体外Neuroinflammation 模型的建立

In the central nervous system, numerous acute injuries and neurodegenerative disorders, as well as implanted devices or biomaterials engineered to enhance ...

Repressing Gene Transcription by Redirecting Cellular Machinery with Chemical Epigenetic Modifiers

Regulation of chromatin compaction is an important process that governs gene expression in higher eukaryotes. Although chromatin compaction and gene expression regulation are commonly disrupted in many diseases, a locus-specific, endogenous, and reversible method to study and control these mechanisms of action has been lacking. To address this issue, we have developed and characterized novel gene-regulating bifunctional molecules. One component of the bifunctional molecule binds to a DNA-protein anchor so that it will be recruited to an allele-specific locus. The other component engages endogenous cellular chromatin-modifying machinery, recruiting these proteins to a gene of interest. These small molecules, called chemical epigenetic modifiers (CEMs), are capable of controlling gene expression and the chromatin environment in a dose-dependent and reversible manner. Here, we detail a CEM approach and its application to decrease gene expression and histone tail acetylation at a Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) reporter located at the Oct4 locus in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs). We characterize the lead CEM (CEM23) using fluorescent microscopy, flow cytometry, and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), followed by a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). While the power of this system is demonstrated at the Oct4 locus, conceptually, the CEM technology is modular and can be applied in other cell types and at other genomic loci.

Regulation of the chromatin environment is an essential process required for proper gene expression. Here, we describe a method for controlling gene expression through the recruitment of chromatin-modifying machinery in a gene-specific and reversible manner.

用化学表观修饰因子重定向细胞机械抑制基因转录

Regulation of chromatin compaction is an important process that governs gene expression in higher eukaryotes. Although chromatin compaction and gene ...

Fabricating a Kidney Cortex Extracellular Matrix-Derived Hydrogel

Extracellular matrix (ECM) provides important biophysical and biochemical cues to maintain tissue homeostasis. Current synthetic hydrogels offer robust mechanical support for in vitro cell culture but lack the necessary protein and ligand composition to elicit physiological behavior from cells. This manuscript describes a fabrication method for a kidney cortex ECM-derived hydrogel with proper mechanical robustness and supportive biochemical composition. The hydrogel is fabricated by mechanically homogenizing and solubilizing decellularized human kidney cortex ECM. The matrix preserves native kidney cortex ECM protein ratios while also enabling gelation to physiological mechanical stiffnesses. The hydrogel serves as a substrate upon which kidney cortex-derived cells can be maintained under physiological conditions. Furthermore, the hydrogel composition can be manipulated to model a diseased environment which enables the future study of kidney diseases.

Here we present a protocol to fabricate a kidney cortex extracellular matrix-derived hydrogel to retain the native kidney extracellular matrix (ECM) structural and biochemical composition. The fabrication process and its applications are described. Finally, a perspective on using this hydrogel to support kidney-specific cellular and tissue regeneration and bioengineering is discussed.

肾皮质细胞外基质衍生水凝胶的制备

Extracellular matrix (ECM) provides important biophysical and biochemical cues to maintain tissue homeostasis. Current synthetic hydrogels offer robust ...

A Microfluidic Platform for Stimulating Chondrocytes with Dynamic Compression

Mechanical stimuli are known to modulate biological functions of cells and tissues. Recent studies have suggested that compressive stress alters growth plate cartilage architecture and results in growth modulation of long bones of children. To determine the role of compressive stress in bone growth, we created a microfluidic device actuated by pneumatic pressure, to dynamically (or statically) compress growth plate chondrocytes embedded in alginate hydrogel cylinders. In this article, we describe detailed methods for fabricating and characterizing this device. The advantages of our protocol are: 1) Five different magnitudes of compressive stress can be generated on five technical replicates in a single platform, 2) It is easy to visualize cell morphology via a conventional light microscope, 3) Cells can be rapidly isolated from the device after compression to facilitate downstream assays, and 4) The platform can be applied to study mechanobiology of any cell type that can grow in hydrogels.

This article provides detailed methods for fabricating and characterizing a pneumatically actuating microfluidic device for chondrocyte compression.

微流体平台，用于用动态压缩刺激软骨细胞

Mechanical stimuli are known to modulate biological functions of cells and tissues. Recent studies have suggested that compressive stress alters growth ...

Pancreatic Tissue-Derived Extracellular Matrix Bioink for Printing 3D Cell-Laden Pancreatic Tissue Constructs

The transplantation of pancreatic islets is a promising treatment for patients who suffer from type 1 diabetes accompanied by hypoglycemia and secondary complications. However, islet transplantation still has several limitations such as the low viability of transplanted islets due to poor islet engraftment and hostile environments. In addition, the insulin-producing cells differentiated from human pluripotent stem cells have limited ability to secrete sufficient hormones that can regulate the blood glucose level; therefore, improving the maturation by culturing cells with proper microenvironmental cues is strongly required. In this article, we elucidate protocols for preparing a pancreatic tissue-derived decellularized extracellular matrix (pdECM) bioink to provide a beneficial microenvironment that can increase glucose sensitivity of pancreatic islets, followed by describing the processes for generating 3D pancreatic tissue constructs using a microextrusion-based bioprinting technique.

Decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) can provide suitable microenvironmental cues to recapitulate the inherent functions of target tissues in an engineered construct. This article elucidates the protocols for the decellularization of pancreatic tissue, evaluation of pancreatic tissue-derived dECM bioink, and generation of 3D pancreatic tissue constructs using a bioprinting technique.

用于打印 3D 细胞-拉丹胰腺组织构造的胰腺组织衍生细胞外基质生物墨水

The transplantation of pancreatic islets is a promising treatment for patients who suffer from type 1 diabetes accompanied by hypoglycemia and secondary ...