Abstract
BPS meeting 2014 springCells are frequently anchorage-dependent and respond sensitively to changes in substrate viscoelasticity. Cellular mechano-sensitivity has been traditionally explored using polymeric gels of adjustable crosslinking density with immobilized linkers. However, such polymeric films can be prone to substrate artifacts affecting linker density and cell spreading/migration. Here, we show that cellular mechanosensitivity can also be probed using polymer-tethered lipid bilayers comprised of phospholipids and lipopolymers with specific cell-substrate linkers. In this biomembrane-mimicking supramolecular assembly, substrate viscoelasticity can be varied either by modification of bilayer number in a multi-bilayer stack or via control of lipopolymer density (without altering bilayer number). Characteristics of fibroblast cellular mechanosensitivity are analyzed in terms of: cell morphology, migration speed and cytoskeleton organization. Furthermore, cellular migration is monitored on polymer-tethered bilayer substrates with a sharp boundary or lateral gradient in lipopolymer concentration.
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