Department of Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Biophys J. 2013 Jan 22;104(2):313-21. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2012.12.001.
There is increasing evidence to suggest that physical parameters, including substrate rigidity, topography, and cell geometry, play an important role in cell migration. As there are significant differences in cell behavior when cultured in 1D, 2D, or 3D environments, we hypothesize that migrating cells are also able to sense the dimension of the environment as a guidance cue. NIH 3T3 fibroblasts were cultured on micropatterned substrates where the path of migration alternates between 1D lines and 2D rectangles. We found that 3T3 cells had a clear preference to stay on 2D rather than 1D substrates. Cells on 2D surfaces generated stronger traction stress than did those on 1D surfaces, but inhibition of myosin II caused cells to lose their sensitivity to substrate dimension, suggesting that myosin-II-dependent traction forces are the determining factor for dimension sensing. Furthermore, oncogene-transformed fibroblasts are defective in mechanosensing while generating similar traction forces on 1D and 2D surfaces. Dimension sensing may be involved in guiding cell migration for both physiological functions and tissue engineering, and for maintaining normal cells in their home tissue.
越来越多的证据表明，物理参数，包括基质硬度、形貌和细胞几何形状，在细胞迁移中起着重要作用。由于细胞在 1D、2D 或 3D 环境中培养时的行为有很大差异，我们假设迁移细胞也能够感知环境的维度作为导向线索。我们将 NIH 3T3 成纤维细胞培养在微图案化的基质上，其中迁移路径在 1D 线和 2D 矩形之间交替。我们发现 3T3 细胞明显更喜欢留在 2D 而不是 1D 基质上。与在 1D 表面相比，在 2D 表面上的细胞产生更强的牵引力，但肌球蛋白 II 的抑制导致细胞失去对基质维度的敏感性，这表明肌球蛋白 II 依赖性牵引力是维度感应的决定因素。此外，癌基因转化的成纤维细胞在机械感应方面存在缺陷，而在 1D 和 2D 表面上产生相似的牵引力。维度感应可能参与引导细胞迁移，无论是生理功能还是组织工程，以及维持正常细胞在其原位组织中。
