INVITED ARTICLES IN NANOENGINEERING FOR MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY (NEMB) 2015No Access

Rapid generation of collagen-based microtissues to study cell–matrix interactions

Marie-Elena Brett

Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA

These authors contributed equally to the work

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Alexandra L. Crampton

Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA

These authors contributed equally to the work

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, and

David K. Wood

Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA

E-mail Address: dkwood@umn.edu

Correspondence should be addressed to: D.K.W.

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https://doi.org/10.1142/S2339547816400094Cited by:12 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

The objective of this study was to create a method for studying cell–matrix interactions in a physiologically relevant 3D protein-based tissue construct that could be scaled up to perform large-scale screens, study cell–matrix interactions on a population basis, or be remodeled by cells to build larger tissues. We have developed an easy-to-use method to miniaturize protein-based tissue constructs that maintains the 3D in vitro environment, while alleviating several obstacles associated with larger avascular tissue constructs. In this study, we demonstrate that (i) cells can interact with the 3D environment both while encapsulated or while interacting only with the surface of the microtissues, (ii) encapsulated cells are highly viable and, for the first time, (iii) microtissues on this size scale (~200 μm) can be used to quantify cell contractility. This versatile platform should facilitate large-scale screens in 3D in vitro culture conditions for drug development and high throughput mechanistic biology.

Keywords:

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Vol. 04, No. 02

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History

Received 14 October 2015

Accepted 8 February 2016

Published: 7 April 2016

Keywords

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System Upgrade on Tue, May 28th, 2024 at 2am (EDT)

Rapid generation of collagen-based microtissues to study cell–matrix interactions

Abstract

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System Upgrade on Tue, May 28th, 2024 at 2am (EDT)

Rapid generation of collagen-based microtissues to study cell–matrix interactions

Abstract

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