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Modular Design of Micropattern Geometry Achieves Combinatorial Enhancements in Cell Motility
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posted on 2016-02-22, 04:04 authored by Keiichiro Kushiro, Anand R. AsthagiriBasic micropattern shapes, such as stripes and teardrops,
affect
individual facets of cell motility, such as migration speed and directional
bias, respectively. Here, we test the idea that these individual effects
on cell motility can be brought together to achieve multidimensional
improvements in cell behavior through the modular reconstruction of
the simpler “building block” micropatterns. While a
modular design strategy is conceptually appealing, current evidence
suggests that combining environmental cues, especially molecular cues,
such as growth factors and matrix proteins, elicits a highly nonlinear,
synergistic cell response. Here, we show that, unlike molecular cues,
combining stripe and teardrop geometric cues into a hybrid, spear-shaped
micropattern yields combinatorial benefits in cell speed, persistence,
and directional bias. Furthermore, cell migration speed and persistence
are enhanced in a predictable, additive manner on the modular spear-shaped
design. Meanwhile, the spear micropattern also improved the directional
bias of cell movement compared to the standard teardrop geometry,
revealing that combining geometric features can also lead to unexpected
synergistic effects in certain aspects of cell motility. Our findings
demonstrate that the modular design of hybrid micropatterns from simpler
building block shapes achieves combinatorial improvements in cell
motility. These findings have implications for engineering biomaterials
that effectively mix and match micropatterns to modulate and direct
cell motility in applications, such as tissue engineering and lab-on-a-chip
devices.