An international research team from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Radboud University and KU Leuven used a synthetic, yet highly biomimetic hydrogel based on polyisocyanide (PIC) polymers to investigate the effects of the fibrous architecture and the nonlinear mechanics on cell-matrix interactions.
Their findings were published in PNAS on April 3.
Cells are heavily influenced by their immediate surroundings, and interactions between cells and their matrix play a critical role in cell fate. However, this complex web of biochemical and mechanical contributions is still poorly understood. The lack of controllable matrices and quantitative analysis techniques has hampered progress in this field.
To address this issue, this international team used a highly biomimetic synthetic fibrous hydrogel to study and tailor the bidirectional cell-matrix interactions.
The synthetic PIC gel, discovered in 2013 by Prof. Paul Kouwer from Radboud University, appears to behave like collagen. This makes the gel very useful for studying interactions between cells and their immediate environment. In practice, this means that the gel seems highly suitable to culture cells for biological and clinical research. An additional advantage is that unlike the gels commonly used for cell culture, this gel requires no breeding and killing of mice.
Using advanced microscopy-based approaches, they acquired a comprehensive picture of how cellular tractions, fiber remodeling, matrix properties, and cellular behavior interact. Complete mapping of cell-matrix interactions at the cellular length scale provided indispensable information for a rational design of better biomimetic materials.
