Fibrinogen nanofibers for guiding endothelial cell behavior

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Cell Biology
• Tissue Engineering

Background:

• Endothelial cells play a crucial role in vascular health and tissue regeneration.
• Developing biomaterials that mimic the native extracellular matrix is essential for effective tissue engineering.
• Fibrinogen (FBG) is a key protein in hemostasis and tissue repair.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the biological consequences of presenting electrospun fibrinogen (FBG) nanofibers to endothelial cells.
• To evaluate how the spatial organization of FBG nanofibers influences endothelial cell behavior and matrix deposition.
• To assess the potential of electrospun FBG nanofibers in tissue engineering applications.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of aligned and randomly oriented FBG nanofibers via electrospinning.
• Characterization of electrospun FBG structure and stability using electrophoretic profiling and fluorescent tracing.
• Assessment of human umbilical vein endothelial cell interactions with FBG nanofibrous matrices.
• Analysis of cell morphology, orientation, movement, and cytoskeleton organization using microscopy and time-lapse recordings.

Main Results:

• Electrospun FBG nanofibers were successfully fabricated with diameters <200 nm and demonstrated good stability.
• Endothelial cells showed enhanced recognition and interaction with nanofibrous FBG compared to adsorbed FBG.
• Aligned FBG fibers guided cell orientation and movement along the fiber direction.
• Randomly deposited FBG fibers induced stellate cell morphology and immobilization.
• FBG fiber orientation significantly influenced cytoskeleton organization and fibronectin matrix deposition.

Conclusions:

• Electrospun FBG nanofibers provide a spatially organized matrix that effectively guides endothelial cell behavior.
• The orientation of FBG nanofibers plays a critical role in dictating cell morphology, migration, and matrix remodeling.
• Electrospun FBG nanofibers represent a promising biomaterial for guiding endothelial cell functions in tissue engineering.