Abstract
It is well-known that cell adhesion is important in many biological processes such as cell migration and proliferation. A better understanding of the cell adhesion process will shed insight into these cellular biological responses as well as cell adhesion-related diseases treatment. However, there is little research which has attempted to investigate the process of cell adhesion and its mechanism. Thus, this paper aims to study the time-dependent adhesion properties of single living chondrocytes using an advanced coupled experimental-numerical approach. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) tips will be used to apply lateral forces to detach chondrocytes that are seeded for three different periods. An advanced Finite Element Analysis (FEA) model combining porohyperelastic (PHE) constitutive model and cohesive zone formulation is developed to explore the mechanism of adhesion. The results revealed that the cells can resist normal traction better than tangential traction in the beginning of adhesion. This is when the cell adhesion molecules establish early attachment to the substrates. After that when the cells are spreading, stress fiber bundles generate tangential traction on the substrate to form strong adhesion. Both simulation and experimental results agree well with each other, providing a powerful tool to study the cellular adhesion process.
Highlights
It is well-known that cell adhesion is important in many biological processes such as cell migration and proliferation
It has been reported that the disruption of the collagen network in the early stages of osteoarthritis causes an increase in water content of the cartilage, which in turn leads to a reduction of the pericellular osmolality of the chondrocytes[4]
The results revealed that chondrocytes attach to the substrate stronger with longer seeding time corresponding to the changes of cell’s morphology
Summary
It is well-known that cell adhesion is important in many biological processes such as cell migration and proliferation. After that when the cells are spreading, stress fiber bundles generate tangential traction on the substrate to form strong adhesion Both simulation and experimental results agree well with each other, providing a powerful tool to study the cellular adhesion process. Treatments to the damaged or diseased tissues and organs through the replacement of combinations of cells, scaffolds and soluble mediators[14] This approach needs readily available stem cell sources that can provide the relevant properties and behaviour under controlled conditions. The last strategy utilized the AFM cantilever to apply a shear force to detach the cells in order to study the adhesive forces between cells and the substrate This developed technique would provide a powerful tool to investigate the adhesive behaviour of chondrocytes. The advantage of this technique is that it utilizes the contact scanning mode that is available in any AFM system compared to other techniques that may require some special facilities[27]
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