Cell polymer Interaction

•Cell- Polymer Interaction

· The cell—polymer interaction is consisted of early events, such as cell adhesion and
spreading, and late events, related to cell proliferation, differentiation and cell function
· Cell adhesion is the process that cells occur interaction and bind to a material surface or
another cell, which essential to cell communication, regulation, organ formation and tissue
maintenance
· Three kinds of cell—polymer interactions
· The first type is non-adhesion interaction where cells fail to adhere to a time period
desired by an application, meaning no interaction is occurring.
· The second category of interaction is passive adhesion that cells can interact and adhere but
easily detach even when a minimal or negligible damage occurs .
· The interfacial response is controlled by physicochemical interactions between the
polymer surface, adsorbed proteins and adhering cells .
· A final interaction is categorized as active adhesion interaction that cells spontaneously and
strongly interact and stably adhere onto the polymer surface.
· The interaction between surface receptors on the cell membrane and polymer surface are
spontaneously activated which leads to the transformation of cell shape (flattening) and
spreading for subsequent attachment-dependent phenotypes.
• Cells in your body react differently when they are growing
on a hard supporting layer, as opposed to on a soft one.
• The principle underlying this is mechanotransduction,
where cells sense mechanical stimuli and convert them into
biochemical signals.
• Cells are constantly pulling on the surface they grow on to
test its stiffness, and react by adjusting their shape and
stickiness. For example, when cells grow on a hard surface
such as bone they flatten and spread out, forming long,
stable edges.
Mechanotransduction - Mechanism by which cells
convert mechanical stimuli into cellular responses to a
variety of mechanical loads.
Adhesion and spreading
·Most tissue-derived cells require attachment to a solid surface for
viability and growth.
·In tissue engineering, cell adhesion to a surface is critical because
adhesion precedes other cell behaviors such as cell spreading, cell
migration and, often, differentiated cell function.
·The simplest methods for quantifying the extent of cell adhesion to a
surface involve three steps:
·1) Suspension of cells over a surface,
·2) Incubation of the sedimented cells in culture medium for some
period of time, and
·3) Detachment of loosely adherent cells under controlled conditions.
·The extent of cell adhesion, which is a function of the conditions of the
experiment, is determined by quantifying either the number of cells that
remain associated with the surface (the 'adherent' cells) or the number of
cells that were extracted with the washes.
• Radiolabeled or fluorescently-labeled cells can be used
to permit measurement of the number of attached
cells.
· Alternatively, the number of attached cells can be
determined by direct visualization, by measurement of
concentration of an intracellular enzyme.
· The 'adherent' cells are further categorized based on
morphologically differences (e.g., extent of spreading,
formation of actin filament bundles, presence of focal
contacts).
· The major cytoskeletal protein of most cells is Actin.
Actin filaments are particularly abundant beneath the
plasma membrane, where they form a network that
provides mechanical support, determines cell shape
(Focal contacts - The sites of tightest adhesion that
form between cells and substrate surfaces in tissue
culture)
Migration
·The migration of individual cells within a tissue is a
critical element in the formation of the architecture of
organs and organisms.
·Cell migration is likely to be an important
phenomenon in tissue engineering, since the ability of
cells to move, either in association with the surface of
a material or through an ensemble of other cells, will
be an essential part of new tissue formation or
regeneration.
·Cell migration is also difficult to measure,
particularly in complex environments.
·Experimental methods for characterizing cell motility
can be divided into visual assays and population assays
·In visual assays, the movements of a small number
(usually —100) of cells are observed individually.
·Population techniques allow the observation of the
collective movements of larger numbers of cells:
·In filter chamber assays the number of cells migrating
through a membrane or filter is measured,
·In under-agarose assays the leading front of cell
movement on a surface under a block of agarose is
monitored.
Cellular motility is the spontaneous movement of a cell from one location to
another by consumption of energy
•Aggregation
·Cell aggregates are important tools in the study of
tissue development, permitting correlation of cell-cell
interactions with cell differentiation, viability and
migration, subsequent tissue formation.
·The aggregate morphology permits re-establishment of
the cell-cell contacts normally present in tissues
·Cell function and survival are often enhanced in
aggregate culture.
·Because of this, cell aggregates may also be useful in
tissue engineering, enhancing the function of cell-based
hybrid artificial organs or reconstituted tissue transplants
·CELL PHENOTYPE
·In tissue-engineering applications, particularly those in
which cell-polymer hybrid materials are prepared,
promotion of some cell-specific function.
·For example, protein secretion and detoxification are
essential functions for hepatocytes used for transplantation
or liver support devices
·Measurements of protein secretion and intracellular
enzyme activity (particularly the hepatic P450 enzyme
system) are frequently used to assess hepatocyte function

Cell phenotype - Combination of multiple cellular processes involving gene and protein
expression that result in the elaboration of a cell's particular morphology and function
· CELL INTERACTIONS WITH POLYMERS

Protein adsorption to polymers

• A polymeric material that is placed in solution or implanted in the body
becomes coated with proteins quickly, usually within minutes.

• Many of the subsequent interactions of cells with the material depend

on, or derive from, the composition of the protein layer that forms on the
surface.

• Polymers have been shown to adsorb a large number of proteins in vitro

· For cells attached to a solid substrate, cell behavior and function depend
on the characteristics of the substrate.

•The relationship between chemical or physical characteristics of the

substrate and behavior or function of attached cells.

•The polymer surfaces had a range of surface energies, as determined by

static water contact angles, from very hydrophilic to very hydrophobic.

•Polymers can frequently be made more suitable for cell attachment and
growth by surface modification.
·Biodegradable polymers slowly degrade and then
dissolve following implantation.
·This feature may be important for many tissue-
engineering applications, since the polymer will
disappear as functional tissue regenerates.
·For this reason, interactions of cells with a variety
of biodegradable polymers have been studied.
·Biodegradable polymers may provide an additional
level of control over cell interactions: during
polymer degradation, the surface of the polymer is
constantly renewed, providing a dynamic substrate
for cell attachment and growth.