Profiling the responsiveness of focal adhesions of human cardiomyocytes to extracellular dynamic nano-topography

Huaiyu Shi; Xiangjun Wu; Shiyang Sun; Chenyan Wang; Zacharias Vangelatos; Ariel Ash-Shakoor; Costas P Grigoropoulos; Patrick T Mather; James H Henderson; Zhen Ma

doi:10.1016/j.bioactmat.2021.08.028

Profiling the responsiveness of focal adhesions of human cardiomyocytes to extracellular dynamic nano-topography

Bioact Mater. 2021 Aug 28:10:367-377. doi: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2021.08.028. eCollection 2022 Apr.

Authors

Huaiyu Shi^{1

2}, Xiangjun Wu^{1

2}, Shiyang Sun^{1

2}, Chenyan Wang^{1

2}, Zacharias Vangelatos³, Ariel Ash-Shakoor¹, Costas P Grigoropoulos³, Patrick T Mather⁴, James H Henderson^{1

2}, Zhen Ma^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical & Chemical Engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 13244, USA.
² BioInspired Syracuse Institute for Materials and Living Systems, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 13244, USA.
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, PA, 94720, USA.
⁴ Department of Chemical Engineering, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, 17837, USA.

Abstract

Focal adhesion complexes function as the mediators of cell-extracellular matrix interactions to sense and transmit the extracellular signals. Previous studies have demonstrated that cardiomyocyte focal adhesions can be modulated by surface topographic features. However, the response of focal adhesions to dynamic surface topographic changes remains underexplored. To study this dynamic responsiveness of focal adhesions, we utilized a shape memory polymer-based substrate that can produce a flat-to-wrinkle surface transition triggered by an increase of temperature. Using this dynamic culture system, we analyzed three proteins (paxillin, vinculin and zyxin) from different layers of the focal adhesion complex in response to dynamic extracellular topographic change. Hence, we quantified the dynamic profile of cardiomyocyte focal adhesion in a time-dependent manner, which provides new understanding of dynamic cardiac mechanobiology.

Keywords: Costamere; Dynamic mechanobiology; Focal adhesion; Human induced pluripotent stem cells; Shape memory polymer; Stimuli-responsive biomaterials.