A New Construction Model of Engineered Tendons under Mechanical Strain In Vitro

Author(s):  
Ting Wu Qin ◽  
Zhi Ming Yang ◽  
Kailu Liang ◽  
Hui Qi Xie ◽  
Xiu Qun Li
2005 ◽  
Vol 288-289 ◽  
pp. 19-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ting Wu Qin ◽  
Zhi Ming Yang ◽  
Kailu Liang ◽  
Hui Qi Xie ◽  
Xiu Qun Li

Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 765
Author(s):  
Qianbin Zhao ◽  
Tim Cole ◽  
Yuxin Zhang ◽  
Shi-Yang Tang

Organ-on-a-chip (OOC) uses the microfluidic 3D cell culture principle to reproduce organ- or tissue-level functionality at a small scale instead of replicating the entire human organ. This provides an alternative to animal models for drug development and environmental toxicology screening. In addition to the biomimetic 3D microarchitecture and cell–cell interactions, it has been demonstrated that mechanical stimuli such as shear stress and mechanical strain significantly influence cell behavior and their response to pharmaceuticals. Microfluidics is capable of precisely manipulating the fluid of a microenvironment within a 3D cell culture platform. As a result, many OOC prototypes leverage microfluidic technology to reproduce the mechanically dynamic microenvironment on-chip and achieve enhanced in vitro functional organ models. Unlike shear stress that can be readily generated and precisely controlled using commercial pumping systems, dynamic systems for generating proper levels of mechanical strains are more complicated, and often require miniaturization and specialized designs. As such, this review proposes to summarize innovative microfluidic OOC platforms utilizing mechanical actuators that induce deflection of cultured cells/tissues for replicating the dynamic microenvironment of human organs.


Author(s):  
Birgit Rath-Deschner ◽  
Andressa V. B. Nogueira ◽  
Svenja Beisel-Memmert ◽  
Marjan Nokhbehsaim ◽  
Sigrun Eick ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives The aim of this in vitro and in vivo study was to investigate the interaction of periodontitis and orthodontic tooth movement on interleukin (IL)-6 and C-X-C motif chemokine 2 (CXCL2). Materials and methods The effect of periodontitis and/or orthodontic tooth movement (OTM) on alveolar bone and gingival IL-6 and CXCL2 expressions was studied in rats by histology and RT-PCR, respectively. The animals were assigned to four groups (control, periodontitis, OTM, and combination of periodontitis and OTM). The IL-6 and CXCL2 levels were also studied in human gingival biopsies from periodontally healthy and periodontitis subjects by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. Additionally, the synthesis of IL-6 and CXCL2 in response to the periodontopathogen Fusobacterium nucleatum and/or mechanical strain was studied in periodontal fibroblasts by RT-PCR and ELISA. Results Periodontitis caused an increase in gingival levels of IL-6 and CXCL2 in the animal model. Moreover, orthodontic tooth movement further enhanced the bacteria-induced periodontal destruction and gingival IL-6 gene expression. Elevated IL-6 and CXCL2 gingival levels were also found in human periodontitis. Furthermore, mechanical strain increased the stimulatory effect of F. nucleatum on IL-6 protein in vitro. Conclusions Our study suggests that orthodontic tooth movement can enhance bacteria-induced periodontal inflammation and thus destruction and that IL-6 may play a pivotal role in this process. Clinical relevance Orthodontic tooth movement should only be performed after periodontal therapy. In case of periodontitis relapse, orthodontic therapy should be suspended until the periodontal inflammation has been successfully treated and thus the periodontal disease is controlled again.


Author(s):  
Feihu Zhao ◽  
Yi Xiong ◽  
Keita Ito ◽  
Bert van Rietbergen ◽  
Sandra Hofmann

Mechanobiology research is for understanding the role of mechanics in cell physiology and pathology. It will have implications for studying bone physiology and pathology and to guide the strategy for regenerating both the structural and functional features of bone. Mechanobiological studies in vitro apply a dynamic micro-mechanical environment to cells via bioreactors. Porous scaffolds are commonly used for housing the cells in a three-dimensional (3D) culturing environment. Such scaffolds usually have different pore geometries (e.g. with different pore shapes, pore dimensions and porosities). These pore geometries can affect the internal micro-mechanical environment that the cells experience when loaded in the bioreactor. Therefore, to adjust the applied micro-mechanical environment on cells, researchers can tune either the applied load and/or the design of the scaffold pore geometries. This review will provide information on how the micro-mechanical environment (e.g. fluid-induced wall shear stress and mechanical strain) is affected by various scaffold pore geometries within different bioreactors. It shall allow researchers to estimate/quantify the micro-mechanical environment according to the already known pore geometry information, or to find a suitable pore geometry according to the desirable micro-mechanical environment to be applied. Finally, as future work, artificial intelligent – assisted techniques, which can achieve an automatic design of solid porous scaffold geometry for tuning/optimising the micro-mechanical environment are suggested.


Author(s):  
Clayton J. Underwood ◽  
Laxminarayanan Krishnan ◽  
Lowell T. Edgar ◽  
Steve Maas ◽  
James B. Hoying ◽  
...  

We reported previously that, in addition to mechanical strain, a constrained boundary condition alone can alter the organization of microvessel outgrowth during in vitro angiogenesis [1]. After 6 days of culture in vitro, microvessels aligned parallel to the long axis of rectangular 3D collagen gels that had constrained edges on the ends. However, unconstrained cultures did not show any alignment of microvessels. The ability to direct microvessel outgrowth during angiogenesis has significant implications for engineering prevascularized grafts and tissues in vitro, therefore an understanding of this process is important. Since there is direct relationship between the ability of endothelial cells to contract 3D gels and matrix stiffness [2], we hypothesize that some constrained boundary conditions will increase the apparent matrix stiffness and in turn will limit gel contraction, prevent microvessel alignment, and reduce microvessel outgrowth. The objective of this study was to compare microvessel growth and alignment under several different static boundary conditions.


2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Lee ◽  
Aaron B. Baker

In vitro systems for applying mechanical strain to cultured cells are commonly used to investigate cellular mechanotransduction pathways in a variety of cell types. These systems often apply mechanical forces to a flexible membrane on which cells are cultured. A consequence of the motion of the membrane in these systems is the generation of flow and the unintended application of shear stress to the cells. We recently described a flexible system for applying mechanical strain to cultured cells, which uses a linear motor to drive a piston array to create biaxial strain within multiwell culture plates. To better understand the fluidic stresses generated by this system and other systems of this type, we created a computational fluid dynamics model to simulate the flow during the mechanical loading cycle. Alterations in the frequency or maximal strain magnitude led to a linear increase in the average fluid velocity within the well and a nonlinear increase in the shear stress at the culture surface over the ranges tested (0.5–2.0 Hz and 1–10% maximal strain). For all cases, the applied shear stresses were relatively low and on the order of millipascal with a dynamic waveform having a primary and secondary peak in the shear stress over a single mechanical strain cycle. These findings should be considered when interpreting experimental results using these devices, particularly in the case when the cell type used is sensitive to low magnitude, oscillatory shear stresses.


Author(s):  
Qian Wang ◽  
Yi Zhao

Live cells from most of the membranous tissues such as alveoli are subjected to equi-biaxial strain originated from their extracellular environments. To understand the role of equi-biaxial strain in live cells, a number of engineered methods have been developed for applying such mechanical strain to in vitro cultured cells. Among these methods, deforming a flexible substrate on a circular platen has been widely used [1], and has been miniaturized into millimeter scale for parallel stretching assay (Figure 1a). Nonetheless, the strain homogeneity becomes increasingly challenging at smaller scale, since it requires an ultra-thin membrane, an indentation platen with well controlled dimension, and the highly precise alignment. This obviously increases the fabrication and operation complexities. Devices that deliver homogeneous strain with minimal fabrication and assembling complexities are needed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 215-225
Author(s):  
Sebastian Cardona-Ramirez ◽  
Aaron M. Stoker ◽  
James L. Cook ◽  
Richard Ma

Background: Different tendons are chosen for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction based on perceived advantages and disadvantages, yet there is a relative paucity of information regarding biologic responsiveness of commonly used tendon grafts to mechanical strain. Purpose: To evaluate the in vitro responses of graft fibroblasts derived from tendons used for ACL reconstruction to clinically relevant strain levels. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: Twelve quadriceps tendons (QTs), 12 patellar tendons (PTs), and 9 hamstring tendons (HTs) were harvested from skeletally mature dogs (n = 16). Tendon fibroblasts were isolated and seeded onto BioFlex plates (1 × 105 cells/well). Cells were subjected to 3 strain conditions (stress deprivation, 0%; physiologic, 4%; high, 10%) for 5 days. Media were collected for proinflammatory and metabolic assays. RNA was extracted for gene expression analysis using real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Results: Stress deprivation elicited significantly higher metabolic activity from HT and PT cells than from QT cells ( P < .001 and P = .001, respectively). There were no differences in metabolic activity among all 3 graft fibroblasts at physiologic and high strain. COL-1 expression was significantly higher in PT versus HT during physiologic strain ( P = .007). No significant differences with COL-3 expression were seen. TIMP-1 ( P = .01) expression was higher in PT versus HT under physiologic strain. Scleraxis expression was higher in PT versus HT ( P = .007) under physiologic strain. A strain-dependent increase in PGE2 levels occurred for all grafts. At physiologic strain conditions, HT produced significantly higher levels of PGE2 versus QT ( P < .001) and PT ( P = .005). Conclusion: Fibroblasts from common ACL graft tissues exhibited different metabolic responses to mechanical strain. On the basis of these data, we conclude that early production of extracellular matrix and proinflammatory responses from ACL grafts are dependent on mechanical loading and graft source. Clinical Relevance: Graft-specific differences in ACL reconstruction outcomes are known to exist. Our results suggest that there are differences in the biologic responsiveness of cells from the tendon grafts used in ACL reconstruction, which are dependent on strain levels and graft source. The biologic properties of the tissue used for ACL reconstruction should be considered when selecting graft source.


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