Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary Program, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA.
Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA.
Sci Adv. 2020 May 13;6(20):eaaz6485. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aaz6485. eCollection 2020 May.
Eukaryotic cells in living tissues form dynamic patterns with spatially varying orientational order that affects important physiological processes such as apoptosis and cell migration. The challenge is how to impart a predesigned map of orientational order onto a growing tissue. Here, we demonstrate an approach to produce cell monolayers of human dermal fibroblasts with predesigned orientational patterns and topological defects using a photoaligned liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) that swells anisotropically in an aqueous medium. The patterns inscribed into the LCE are replicated by the tissue monolayer and cause a strong spatial variation of cells phenotype, their surface density, and number density fluctuations. Unbinding dynamics of defect pairs intrinsic to active matter is suppressed by anisotropic surface anchoring allowing the estimation of the elastic characteristics of the tissues. The demonstrated patterned LCE approach has potential to control the collective behavior of cells in living tissues, cell differentiation, and tissue morphogenesis.
活组织中的真核细胞形成具有空间变化取向有序的动态模式，这种模式会影响细胞凋亡和细胞迁移等重要的生理过程。挑战在于如何将预先设计的取向有序图谱赋予正在生长的组织。在这里，我们展示了一种使用各向异性溶胀于水介质中的光取向液晶弹性体（LCE）在人真皮成纤维细胞单层中产生具有预定取向图案和拓扑缺陷的方法。LCE 中记录的图案被组织单层复制，并导致细胞表型、表面密度和数量密度波动的强烈空间变化。通过各向异性表面锚定抑制了活性物质中固有缺陷对的解缠动力学，从而可以估计组织的弹性特性。所展示的图案化 LCE 方法有可能控制活组织中细胞的集体行为、细胞分化和组织形态发生。
