determine the LR asymmetry in morphogenesis. [2] For example, chirality has been found in Xenopus egg cortex before fertilization, [1] and can be passed down to more differentiated cells that establish LR body axis of animal body plan, [7] organ distribution, [8-10] and epithelial movement that leads to axial torsion and overall handedness of hindgut. [11,12] For specialized adult cells derived from somatic tissue, footprints of cell chirality can still be seen by their ability of generating cellular torque, [6,13] migration with LR bias, [14-16] or forming specific alignment in the multicellular level. [15,17,18] Through cell-cell communication, the chiral behavior causes LR-biased cell assembly of multicellular structure [15] and regulates permeability of intercellular junctions. [19] Clearly, cell chirality can be manifested in diverse forms and coordinate different morphogenic dynamics, resulting in distinct forms of tissue and organ architecture. Actin cytoskeleton plays an important role in cell chirality. When cultured on micropatterned substrate, the accumulation of actomyosin stress fibers at micropattern boundary is essential to activate the LR bias in cell migration and orientation. [15,17] Molecular studies suggest helical motion of actin filament as the underlying mechanism for the chirality at cellular level. [20,21] Functioning as a built-in machinery, actomyosin cytoskeleton allows chiral nucleus rotation of single cell [21] and generation of cellular torque with rotational bias. [13] Through a series of amplification process, the actin chirality ultimately determines the symmetry breaking in early embryonic development, [1,7,22] cardiac looping, [4,8,23] and organ laterality [9] in vivo. To give rise to such diverse forms of cell chirality, cell differentiation should play a role. [13,15,17] Cell differentiation is a process coupling with chemical [24] and physical factors. [25-27] Based on variation of key proteins in cytoskeleton, [28] cytoskeleton can be changed at early stage of cell differentiation, as shown by upregulation of cytoskeletal contractility [29] and cell morphological features, which can even forecast the cell lineage fate. [28] It suggests that cytoskeletal components, particularly actin, may early respond to the induction of cell differentiation and then actively participate the signal cascades to engage cell fate. Evidences can be found by regulation of cell differentiation via changed cell shape and cell spreading by physical cues [30-38]

Left-right (LR) asymmetry of tissue/organ structure is a morphological feature essential for many tissue functions. The ability to incorporate the LR formation in constructing tissue/organ replacement is important for recapturing the inherent tissue structure and functions. However, how LR asymmetry is formed remains largely underdetermined, which creates significant hurdles to reproduce and regulate the formation of LR asymmetry in an engineering context. Here, we report substrate rigidity functioning as an effective switch that turns on the development of LR asymmetry. Using micropatterned cell-adherent stripes on rigid substrates, we found that cells collectively oriented at a LR-biased angle relative to the stripe boundary. This LR asymmetry was initiated by a LR-biased migration of cells at stripe boundary, which later generated a velocity gradient propagating from stripe boundary to the center. After a series of cell translocations and rotations, ultimately, an LR-biased cell orientation within the micropatterned stripe was formed. Importantly, this initiation and propagation of LR asymmetry was observed only on rigid but not on soft substrates, suggesting that the LR asymmetry was regulated by rigid substrate probably through the organization of actin cytoskeleton. Together, we demonstrated substrate rigidity as a determinant factor that mediates the self-organizing LR asymmetry being unfolded from single cells to multicellular organization. More broadly, we anticipate that our findings would pave the way for rebuilding artificial tissue constructs with inherent LR asymmetry in the future.

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Proper muscle function requires specific orientation of myotubes. Cell chirality, a mechanical behavior of cells, may participate in myogenesis and give rise to left–right (LR) orientation of muscle tissue. Thus, it is essential to understand the factors effecting the cell chirality. Here, using C2C12 cells as a model system, we report that prior culture condition with high/low density can create remnant effects on cell chirality after reseeding. C2C12 myoblasts were first conditioned by a series of subcultures with plating density at 2200 cells/cm2 (low density) or 22 000 cells/cm2 (high density). After reseeding on micropatterned stripes fabricated on glass or polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrates, we found that the cells after low-density cultures exhibited a reduced cell aspect ratio and intercellular alignment, leading to an attenuated chiral orientation only appearing on glass substrate. In contrast, chiral orientation was observed in cells after high-density culture on both substrates. By comparing it to the original cells without being subcultured with high/low density, we found that the series of low-density cultures disorganized the formation of actin rings in single cells, which is an essential structure for cell chirality. Moreover, by using high-density culture supplemented with inhibitors of actin polymerization, the effect of low-density cultures was recaptured, suggesting that the series of subcultures with high/low density may be an in vitro aging process that modifies the actin cytoskeleton, causing a remnant attenuation of cell chirality even after trypsin digestion and reseeding. Together, our result suggests a mechanistic insight of how cytoskeletal structures “memorize” the previous experience through modification of the actin filament, opening up new possibilities for morphogenesis and mechanobiology.

No abstract