Tunable mechanical properties of stent-like microscaffolds for studying cancer cell recognition of stiffness gradients

Lemma, Enrico Domenico; Sergio, Sara; Spagnolo, Barbara; Algieri, Luciana; Coluccia, M; Maffia, Michele; Vittorio, Massimo De; Pisanello, Marco

doi:10.1016/j.mee.2018.01.007

Cited by 20 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…They showed that cells were more likely to cross scaffold facets with lower Young's modulus as compared to stiffer structures . A similar cellular behavior was observed by the same group using substantially different architectures, i.e., cylinder scaffolds and an additional colorectal cancer cell line . Together, their results suggest that not only the morphology but also the stiffness of the ECM surrounding tumors in vivo may play a key role in the resulting invasive behavior of cells.…”

Section: Direct Laser Writing For Cell Culturesupporting

confidence: 63%

3D Scaffolds to Study Basic Cell Biology

et al. 2019

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Mimicking the properties of the extracellular matrix is crucial for developing in vitro models of the physiological microenvironment of living cells. Among other techniques, 3D direct laser writing (DLW) has emerged as a promising technology for realizing tailored 3D scaffolds for cell biology studies. Here, results based on DLW addressing basic biological issues, e.g., cell‐force measurements and selective 3D cell spreading on functionalized structures are reviewed. Continuous future progress in DLW materials engineering and innovative approaches for scaffold fabrication will enable further applications of DLW in applied biomedical research and tissue engineering.

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Section: Direct Laser Writing For Cell Culturesupporting

confidence: 63%

3D Scaffolds to Study Basic Cell Biology

et al. 2019

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“…Such approach involving sequential 2PP steps, allows a better control on the scaffold architectures compared to other protein substrates and a better positioning and shaping of the cells. Different resin formulations, functionalization procedures, and scaffold designs are reported that promotes sensing and analysis of cell mechanical properties …”

Section: Homogeneous Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional Materials for Two‐Photon Polymerization in Microfabrication

Carlotti

Mattoli

2019

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The creation of 3D micro and nanostructures is of particular interest in the fields of photonics, [3] microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), [4] metamaterials, [5] micro/ nanofluidics, [6] cellular proliferation, and differentiation. [7] To create 3D objects of arbitrary shape, 3D printing techniques offer many versatile solutions. [8] Among these, direct laser writing (DLW) allows for the simple preparation of (sub)micrometric objects and patterns with a resolution that can go below 100 nm. [9][10][11] DLW is an additive manufacturing technique based on twophoton polymerization (2PP). To produce a structure, a fs-pulsed long-wavelength laser is focused, by means of optical elements, in a photosensitive resin which is able to crosslink (negative photoresist) or decompose (positive photoresist) under an energetic radiation but that is also transparent at the laser wavelength: if the intensity of the excitation radiation is high enough-as it is the case in the focus-the resin can undergo two (or more)-photon absorption and polymerize (or decompose). [12] Such multiphotons absorption phenomena are nonlinear and the cross-section of the different materials scales with the square (or higher) of the intensity of the radiation. For these reasons, the laser beam can enter the photoresist without being absorbed and trigger the photochemical process(es) only in a small volume around the focus. This volume is named "voxel" being the 3D analogue of a 2D pixel. [13] The absorption probability outside of the voxel is small, thus suppressing the propagation of the reaction and resulting in fine resolution. By moving around the voxel, one can obtain complex 3D structures that can be isolated after developing. [14,15] More than two decades have passed since DLW was proposed [16] and much progress has been made in terms of improving feature size and resolution, [9,[17][18][19][20][21] enlarging the library of materials that can be used, [22][23][24][25] and the possible applications of these finely controlled structures. [6,[25][26][27][28] The research on functional materials-here intended as materials that can be employed in 2PP and show peculiar features that encourage their use in particular applications-has propelled the field of micro/nanostructuring forward by promoting the interdisciplinarity between chemistry, physics, biology, and material science. [26] In this review, we will summarize and critically discuss the different functional materials proposed in the literature, dividing them and confronting them according to their preparation and their application (Figure 1; Table 1). We start the main body discussing the properties and applications of nanocomposite resists used in 2PP. In the second part, Direct laser writing methods based on two-photon polymerization (2PP) are powerful tools for the on-demand printing of precise and complex 3D architectures at the micro and nanometer scale. While much progress was made to increase the resolution and the feature size throughout the years, by carefully designing a material, one...

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“…For example, the use of 3D printing for the fabrication of sensing elements embedding conductive components is growing fast [180,181,182], backed by the development of different printable materials [183,184] and printing techniques that allow combining materials with different mechanical properties in the same structure [185,186,187]. Furthermore, at the microscale, direct laser lithography (DLL) has been largely employed in biomimicry of 3D natural structures for surface functionalization [188,189,190,191], for structuring soft materials in three dimensions [192,193,194,195], also with a variable stiffness in the same structure [196,197], or for fabricating conductive 3D structures [198,199,200]. Nevertheless, many efforts are still necessary for the development of new materials that mimic the different properties of the natural ones, but that can still match fabrication requirements, especially for building heterogeneous mechanical structures.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomechanics in Soft Mechanical Sensing: From Natural Case Studies to the Artificial World

2018

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Living beings use mechanical interaction with the environment to gather essential cues for implementing necessary movements and actions. This process is mediated by biomechanics, primarily of the sensory structures, meaning that, at first, mechanical stimuli are morphologically computed. In the present paper, we select and review cases of specialized sensory organs for mechanical sensing—from both the animal and plant kingdoms—that distribute their intelligence in both structure and materials. A focus is set on biomechanical aspects, such as morphology and material characteristics of the selected sensory organs, and on how their sensing function is affected by them in natural environments. In this route, examples of artificial sensors that implement these principles are provided, and/or ways in which they can be translated artificially are suggested. Following a biomimetic approach, our aim is to make a step towards creating a toolbox with general tailoring principles, based on mechanical aspects tuned repeatedly in nature, such as orientation, shape, distribution, materials, and micromechanics. These should be used for a future methodical design of novel soft sensing systems for soft robotics.

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Tunable mechanical properties of stent-like microscaffolds for studying cancer cell recognition of stiffness gradients

Cited by 20 publications

References 30 publications

3D Scaffolds to Study Basic Cell Biology

3D Scaffolds to Study Basic Cell Biology

Functional Materials for Two‐Photon Polymerization in Microfabrication

Biomechanics in Soft Mechanical Sensing: From Natural Case Studies to the Artificial World

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