Bronner Hannah, Holzer Anna-Katharina, Finke Alexander, Kunkel Marius, Marx Andreas, Leist Marcel, Polarz Sebastian
Department of Chemistry, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10 D-78457 Konstanz Germany.
Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10 D-78457 Konstanz Germany.
RSC Adv. 2020 May 5;10(29):17327-17335. doi: 10.1039/d0ra00927j. eCollection 2020 Apr 29.
Cells exist in the so-called extracellular matrix (ECM) in their native state, and numerous future applications require reliable and potent ECM-mimics. A perspective, which goes beyond ECM emulation, is the design of a host-material with features which are not accessible in the biological portfolio. Such a feature would, for instance, be the creation of a structural or chemical gradient, and to explore how this special property influences the biological processes. First, we wanted to test if macroporous organosilica materials with appropriate surface modification can act as a host for the implementation of human cells like HeLa or LUHMES. It was possible to use a commercially available polymeric foam as a scaffold and coat it with a thiophenol-containing organosilica layer, followed by biofunctionalization with biotin using click chemistry and the subsequent coupling of streptavidin-fibronectin to it. More importantly, deformation of the scaffold allowed the generation of a permanent structural gradient. In this work, we show that the structural gradient has a tremendous influence on the capability of the described material for the accommodation of living cells. The introduction of a bi-directional gradient enabled the establishment of a cellular community comprising different cell types in spatially distinct regions of the material. An interesting perspective is to study communication between cell types or to create cellular communities, which can never exist in a natural environment.
细胞在其天然状态下存在于所谓的细胞外基质（ECM）中，并且许多未来的应用需要可靠且有效的ECM模拟物。一种超越ECM模拟的观点是设计一种具有生物组合中无法获得的特性的主体材料。例如，这样的特性可以是创建结构或化学梯度，并探索这种特殊性质如何影响生物过程。首先，我们想测试具有适当表面修饰的大孔有机硅材料是否可以作为容纳HeLa或LUHMES等人类细胞的主体。可以使用市售的聚合物泡沫作为支架，并用含硫酚的有机硅层对其进行涂层，然后使用点击化学用生物素进行生物功能化，并随后将链霉亲和素 - 纤连蛋白偶联到其上。更重要的是，支架的变形允许产生永久的结构梯度。在这项工作中，我们表明结构梯度对所述材料容纳活细胞的能力有巨大影响。双向梯度的引入使得能够在材料的空间不同区域中建立包含不同细胞类型的细胞群落。一个有趣的观点是研究细胞类型之间的通讯或创建在自然环境中永远不会存在的细胞群落。
