Event Abstract Back to Event Use of non-adherent hydrogels to control the behaviour of human hepatocarcinoma cell lines Jordi Gonzalez-Molina1*, Natasha Maurmann1* and Clare Selden1* 1 University College London, Institute for Liver and Digestive Health, United Kingdom Introduction: Cells are able to sense the physical and chemical properties of their surroundings mainly via proteins located in the plasma membrane. Integrins are transmembrane receptors that bind to components of the extracellular matrix sending information to the interior of the cell. The mechanical characteristics of the cellular environment have been shown to have a variety of effects on different cell types including differentiation and proliferation. Here we used non-adherent hydrogels, polymers that do not contain integrin-binding motifs, to study the effect of their mechanical properties on the behaviour of liver-derived cell lines capable of surviving in the absence of integrin signalling. Also, we studied the effect of high viscosity media applying these polymers, to mimic the viscosity of biological fluids, such as blood or mucus, on cells. Materials and Methods: Experiments were conducted with the hepatocarcinoma cell lines HepG2 and Huh7. To study the effect of the environmental stiffness of a complete non-adherent three-dimensional (3D) milieu, we encapsulated HepG2 cells in alginate or agarose hydrogels with varying stiffness. To achieve higher stiffness, greater percentages of polymer were used, and for alginate gels two different concentrations of CaCl2 solutions were applied to cross-link it. Also, addition of non-cross-linked alginate was used to study the effect of culture medium viscosity on HepG2 and Huh7 cells attached to conventional rigid polystyrene plates. Results and Discussion: In 3D cultures, cell proliferation in the softest alginate was 4 times greater than the cells in the stiffest alginate and spheroids were significantly larger (p<0.01). This was not explained by a loss of cell viability (always >95%) or reduced proliferation potential as demonstrated by releasing encapsulated cells from the alginate and re-seeding them on polystyrene plates. Flow cytometry analysis revealed an arrest at the G0/G1 (>92% of the cells) phases of the cell cycle in stiff hydrogels at early time points, however, later time points showed an accumulation of cells in the G2/M phases (40-50% of the cells) in all encapsulated cells. These data indicates that mechanical stimuli produced by the hydrogels are sensed by the cell cycle control machinery. Cells incubated for 4 days with viscous media (>1% alginate) changed to a fibroblast-like morphology, a reduced proliferation (p<0.05) and enhanced migration, suggesting that increased media viscosity might be involved in epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Conclusion: Using non-adherent hydrogels we demonstrated that cells are able to sense the mechanical properties of their environment without attaching to it. These results suggest modulation of the mechanical properties of the cellular environment or the signalling pathways involved in these processes may provide novel tools to control cancer cell proliferation and the metastatic process. Liver Group Charity; Wellcome Trust Keywords: Cell Proliferation, Hydrogel, cell phenotype, 3D scaffold Conference: 10th World Biomaterials Congress, Montréal, Canada, 17 May - 22 May, 2016. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: Mechanobiology of cells on biomaterials Citation: Gonzalez-Molina J, Maurmann N and Selden C (2016). Use of non-adherent hydrogels to control the behaviour of human hepatocarcinoma cell lines. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. Conference Abstract: 10th World Biomaterials Congress. doi: 10.3389/conf.FBIOE.2016.01.01062 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 27 Mar 2016; Published Online: 30 Mar 2016. * Correspondence: Dr. Jordi Gonzalez-Molina, University College London, Institute for Liver and Digestive Health, London, United Kingdom, Email1 Dr. Natasha Maurmann, University College London, Institute for Liver and Digestive Health, London, United Kingdom, n.maurmann@ucl.ac.uk Dr. Clare Selden, University College London, Institute for Liver and Digestive Health, London, United Kingdom, c.selden@ucl.ac.uk Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Jordi Gonzalez-Molina Natasha Maurmann Clare Selden Google Jordi Gonzalez-Molina Natasha Maurmann Clare Selden Google Scholar Jordi Gonzalez-Molina Natasha Maurmann Clare Selden PubMed Jordi Gonzalez-Molina Natasha Maurmann Clare Selden Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. 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