The alignment of the substrate nanofibers directing cellular energy metabolism

Abstract

Electrospinning technology is critical in tissue engineering due to its ability to mimic the extracellular matrix. Cells sense their surroundings and perform a series of adaptive behaviors, including proliferation, differentiation, and migration. Here, we prepared two electrospinning fibers with different alignments to investigate the effect of the fibrous network on cell metabolism. We found that cells spread along the fiber orientation. Compared to random fibers, cells on aligned fibers were more elongated and expressed less phosphorylated myosin II. These morphological changes were associated with altered cellular metabolism. HK2, PDK1, and LDHA proteins expression and glycolytic capacity were enhanced in cells on random fibers. These results tentatively demonstrated the influence of substrate morphology on the metabolic state of cells.