Multiphoton microfabrication and micropatterning (MMM) - An all-in-one platform for engineering biomimetic soluble cell niches

Xinna Wang; Bo Gao; Barbara P Chan

doi:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.120644

Multiphoton microfabrication and micropatterning (MMM) - An all-in-one platform for engineering biomimetic soluble cell niches

Biomaterials. 2021 Feb:269:120644. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.120644. Epub 2021 Jan 5.

Authors

Xinna Wang¹, Bo Gao², Barbara P Chan³

Affiliations

¹ Tissue Engineering Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
² School of Biomedical Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
³ Tissue Engineering Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China. Electronic address: bpchan@hku.hk.

PMID: 33472153
DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.120644

Abstract

Engineered biomimetic cell niches represent a valuable in vitro tool for investigating physiological and pathological cellular activities, while developing an all-in-one technology to engineer cell niches, particularly soluble cell niche factors, with retained bioactivities, remains challenging. Here, we report a mask-free, non-contact and biocompatible multiphoton microfabrication and micropatterning (MMM) technology in engineering a spatially and quantitatively controllable bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) soluble niche, by immobilizing optimally biotinylated BMP-2 (bBMP-2) on micro-printed neutravidin (NA) micropatterns. Notably, the micropatterned NA bound-bBMP-2 niche elicited a more sustained and a higher level of the downstream Smad signaling than that by free BMP-2, in C2C12 cells, suggesting the advantages of immobilizing soluble niche factors on engineered micropatterns or scaffold materials. This work reports a universal all-in-one cell niche engineering platform and contributes to reconstituting heterogeneous native soluble cell niches for signal transduction modeling and drug screening studies.

Keywords: Bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2); Growth factor immobilization; Multiphoton microfabrication; Protein micropattern; Smad signaling.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Biomimetics*
Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2
Cell Culture Techniques*
Cell Line
Mice
Microtechnology*
Signal Transduction

Substances

Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2