Elucidating the combinatorial effect of substrate stiffness and surface viscoelasticity on cellular phenotype.

ABSTRACT: Cells maintain tensional homeostasis by monitoring the mechanics of their microenvironment. In order to understand this mechanotransduction phenomenon, hydrogel materials have been developed with either controllable linear elastic or viscoelastic properties. Native biological tissues, and biomaterials used for medical purposes, often have complex mechanical properties. However, due to the difficulty in completely decoupling the elastic and viscous components of hydrogel materials, the effect of complex composite materials on cellular responses has largely gone unreported. Here, we characterize a novel composite hydrogel system capable of decoupling and individually controlling both the bulk stiffness and surface viscoelasticity of the material by combining polyacrylamide (PA) gels with mic

SUBMITTER: Chester D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9305170 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature