Effect of oblique polymer pillars on spreading and elongation of rat mesenchymal stem cells

Jie Hu , Yan-Jun Liu (1) , Jian Shi (2) , Li Wang (2, 3) , Matthieu Piel (4) , Yong Chen (5)

1 SIMM - Sciences et Ingénierie de la Matière Molle
2 PASTEUR - Processus d'Activation Sélective par Transfert d'Energie Uni-électronique ou Radiatif (UMR 8640)
3 SU - Sorbonne Université
4 CDC - Compartimentation et dynamique cellulaires
5 ODU - Old Dominion University [Norfolk]

Stiffness and anisotropy of culture substrates are important factors influencing the cell behavior and their responses to external stimuli. Herein, we report a fabrication method of oblique polymer pillars which allow modulating both stiffness and anisotropy of the substrate for spreading and elongation studies of Rat Mesenchymal Stem Cells (RMSCs). Poly (Lactic-co-Glycolic Acid) (PLGA) has been chosen to produce micro-pillars of different heights and different pitches using a combined method of soft-lithography and hot embossing. The stiffness of such pillar substrates varies over a large range so that RMSCs show effectively different spreading behaviors which are also sensitive to the inclining angle of the pillars. Our results showed that with the increase of the pillar height the area of cell spreading decreases but the cell elongation aspect ratio increases. Moreover, cells preferentially elongate along the direction perpendicular to that of the pillars' inclining, which is in agreement with the calculated anisotropy of the pillar substrate stiffness.

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Jie Hu, Yan-Jun Liu, Jian Shi, Li Wang, Matthieu Piel, et al.. Effect of oblique polymer pillars on spreading and elongation of rat mesenchymal stem cells. Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, 2019, 183, pp.110485. ⟨10.1016/j.colsurfb.2019.110485⟩. ⟨hal-02415221⟩