Crimped Electrospun Fibers Upregulate Ligamentogenic Gene Expression Via a Tension-Mediated Pathway

• Main Authors: Jefferson Chang, 張繁茂
• Other Authors: Pen-hsiu Grace Chao
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/94656796603823793231

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 醫學工程學研究所 === 103 === Electrospun fibrous crimped scaffolds have been studied as a biomimetic environment for ligament tissue engineering. Crimped microenvironments have been shown to improve ligamentogenic properties and scaffold mechanical strength, but the molecular mechanism of fiber crimp on cell phenotype has not yet been investigated. In this study, ACL fibroblasts were seeded on fibrous crimped scaffolds. Fiber crimp modulates cell morphology and cytoskeletal structure, implying a change in cell tension. Myosin plays a role in actin polymerization and reorganization, so this study investigates the role of myosin phosphorylation in the cellular response to a crimped morphology. Our results showed that cells seeded on crimped scaffolds had higher levels of myosin expression. When treated with ROCK inhibitor Y27632 or MLCK inhibitor ML-7, which reduce the levels of myosin phosphorylation, ligamentogenic gene expression of cells on straight and crimped fibers had no significant differences. These results imply that myosin and cell tension are responsible for mediating the effect of crimp morphology on ACL fibroblasts.