Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 457, Zhongshan Road, Dalian, 116023, China.
Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
Small. 2015 Aug 12;11(30):3666-75. doi: 10.1002/smll.201500556. Epub 2015 Apr 28.
Creating artificial tissue-like structures that possess the functionality, specificity, and architecture of native tissues remains a big challenge. A new and straightforward strategy for generating shape-controlled collagen building blocks with a well-defined architecture is presented, which can be used for self-assembly of complex 3D microtissues. Collagen blocks with tunable geometries are controllably produced and released via a membrane-templated microdevice. The formation of functional microtissues by embedding tissue-specific cells into collagen blocks with expression of specific proteins is described. The spontaneous self-assembly of cell-laden collagen blocks into organized tissue constructs with predetermined configurations is demonstrated, which are largely driven by the synergistic effects of cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions. This new strategy would open up new avenues for the study of tissue/organ morphogenesis, and tissue engineering applications.
制造具有天然组织的功能、特异性和结构的人工组织样结构仍然是一个巨大的挑战。本文提出了一种新的、简单的方法，用于生成具有明确定义结构的形状可控的胶原建筑块，可用于复杂的 3D 微组织的自组装。通过膜模板微器件可控地生产和释放具有可调几何形状的胶原块。通过将具有特定蛋白表达的组织特异性细胞嵌入到胶原块中，形成功能性微组织。证明了负载细胞的胶原块自发地自组装成具有预定构型的组织构建体，这主要是由细胞-细胞和细胞-基质相互作用的协同作用驱动的。这种新策略将为组织/器官形态发生和组织工程应用的研究开辟新途径。
