Sensing of micropillars by osteoblasts involves complex intracellular signaling

Topographical material surface features are sensed by cells and provoke a large range of cellular responses. We recognized earlier, that at micropillar topographies in the range of 5 µm, the osteoblasts attempt to phagocytize the pillars resulted in increased energy requirements and reduced osteoblast marker expression, e.g., collagen type I and osteocalcin. However, the precise cellular signaling transducing the topographic information into the cell and evoking phagocytic processes remained unknown. Here, we could show that the RhoA/ROCK signaling is involved in the transduction of the topography-mediated cellular reactions. After inhibition of ROCK-2 with Y27632 for 24 h, no caveolae-mediated micropillar assembly of the cell membrane domain component caveolin-1 (Cav-1) was found. ROCK inhibition was also able to attenuate the pillar-induced decrease in β-actin. Interestingly, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibition with LY294002 for 24 h did not influence the Cav-1 clustering on micropillars. Our results illustrate the importance of the integrin down-stream signaling of RhoA/ROCK in the recognition of and adaption to surface microtopographies by osteoblasts and extend our understanding about the complex mechanism of action inside the cells.