Water–Air Interface to Mimic In Vitro Tumoral Cell Migration in Complex Micro-Environments
The long-known role of cell migration in physiological and pathological contexts still requires extensive research to be fully understood, mainly because of the intricate interaction between moving cells and their surroundings. While conventional assays fail to capture this complexity, recently deve...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Biosensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/12/10/822 |
| _version_ | 1797474820820041728 |
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| author | Martina Conti Ilaria Bolzan Simone Dal Zilio Pietro Parisse Laura Andolfi Marco Lazzarino |
| author_facet | Martina Conti Ilaria Bolzan Simone Dal Zilio Pietro Parisse Laura Andolfi Marco Lazzarino |
| author_sort | Martina Conti |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The long-known role of cell migration in physiological and pathological contexts still requires extensive research to be fully understood, mainly because of the intricate interaction between moving cells and their surroundings. While conventional assays fail to capture this complexity, recently developed 3D platforms better reproduce the cellular micro-environment, although often requiring expensive and time-consuming imaging approaches. To overcome these limitations, we developed a novel approach based on 2D micro-patterned substrates, compatible with conventional microscopy analysis and engineered to create micro-gaps with a length of 150 µm and a lateral size increasing from 2 to 8 µm, where a curved water–air interface is created on which cells can adhere, grow, and migrate. The resulting hydrophilic/hydrophobic interfaces, variable surface curvatures, spatial confinements, and size values mimic the complex micro-environment typical of the extracellular matrix in which aggressive cancer cells proliferate and migrate. The new approach was tested with two breast cancer cell lines with different invasive properties. We observed that invasive cells (MDA-MB-231) can align along the pattern and modify both their morphology and their migration rate according to the size of the water meniscus, while non-invasive cells (MCF-7) are only slightly respondent to the surrounding micro-environment. Moreover, the selected pattern highlighted a significative matrix deposition process connected to cell migration. Although requiring further optimizations, this approach represents a promising tool to investigate cell migration in complex environments. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T20:35:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-03edff684bf4480c93ab0a7651f0adda |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2079-6374 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T20:35:33Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Biosensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-03edff684bf4480c93ab0a7651f0adda2023-11-23T23:11:13ZengMDPI AGBiosensors2079-63742022-10-01121082210.3390/bios12100822Water–Air Interface to Mimic In Vitro Tumoral Cell Migration in Complex Micro-EnvironmentsMartina Conti0Ilaria Bolzan1Simone Dal Zilio2Pietro Parisse3Laura Andolfi4Marco Lazzarino5Department of Physics, University of Trieste, 34127 Trieste, ItalyDepartment of Physics, University of Trieste, 34127 Trieste, ItalyIOM-CNR, Institute of Materials Foundry—National Research Council, 34149 Trieste, ItalyIOM-CNR, Institute of Materials Foundry—National Research Council, 34149 Trieste, ItalyIOM-CNR, Institute of Materials Foundry—National Research Council, 34149 Trieste, ItalyIOM-CNR, Institute of Materials Foundry—National Research Council, 34149 Trieste, ItalyThe long-known role of cell migration in physiological and pathological contexts still requires extensive research to be fully understood, mainly because of the intricate interaction between moving cells and their surroundings. While conventional assays fail to capture this complexity, recently developed 3D platforms better reproduce the cellular micro-environment, although often requiring expensive and time-consuming imaging approaches. To overcome these limitations, we developed a novel approach based on 2D micro-patterned substrates, compatible with conventional microscopy analysis and engineered to create micro-gaps with a length of 150 µm and a lateral size increasing from 2 to 8 µm, where a curved water–air interface is created on which cells can adhere, grow, and migrate. The resulting hydrophilic/hydrophobic interfaces, variable surface curvatures, spatial confinements, and size values mimic the complex micro-environment typical of the extracellular matrix in which aggressive cancer cells proliferate and migrate. The new approach was tested with two breast cancer cell lines with different invasive properties. We observed that invasive cells (MDA-MB-231) can align along the pattern and modify both their morphology and their migration rate according to the size of the water meniscus, while non-invasive cells (MCF-7) are only slightly respondent to the surrounding micro-environment. Moreover, the selected pattern highlighted a significative matrix deposition process connected to cell migration. Although requiring further optimizations, this approach represents a promising tool to investigate cell migration in complex environments.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/12/10/822cell migrationmicro-patterned platformcellular micro-environment |
| spellingShingle | Martina Conti Ilaria Bolzan Simone Dal Zilio Pietro Parisse Laura Andolfi Marco Lazzarino Water–Air Interface to Mimic In Vitro Tumoral Cell Migration in Complex Micro-Environments Biosensors cell migration micro-patterned platform cellular micro-environment |
| title | Water–Air Interface to Mimic In Vitro Tumoral Cell Migration in Complex Micro-Environments |
| title_full | Water–Air Interface to Mimic In Vitro Tumoral Cell Migration in Complex Micro-Environments |
| title_fullStr | Water–Air Interface to Mimic In Vitro Tumoral Cell Migration in Complex Micro-Environments |
| title_full_unstemmed | Water–Air Interface to Mimic In Vitro Tumoral Cell Migration in Complex Micro-Environments |
| title_short | Water–Air Interface to Mimic In Vitro Tumoral Cell Migration in Complex Micro-Environments |
| title_sort | water air interface to mimic in vitro tumoral cell migration in complex micro environments |
| topic | cell migration micro-patterned platform cellular micro-environment |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/12/10/822 |
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