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Manipulating Living Cells to Construct Stable 3D Cellular Assembly Without Artificial Scaffold
Published on: October 26, 2018
Macroscopic Supramolecular Assembly Strategy to Construct 3D Biocompatible Microenvironments with Site-Selective Cell
Changyu Wang1, Cuiling Lin1, Rui Ming1
1State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China.
This study introduces a new method for creating 3D scaffolds with diverse chemical properties to control cell adhesion. The technique uses macroscopic supramolecular assembly (MSA) to precisely position chiral molecules, guiding cell behavior for tissue engineering applications.
Area of Science:
- Biomaterials Science
- Tissue Engineering
- Chemical Engineering
Background:
- Creating 3D scaffolds with specific chemical properties is crucial for controlling cell adhesion and tissue formation.
- Current methods for site-specific biomolecule modification on 3D scaffolds are challenging, leading to nonselective cell adhesion.
- Macroscopic supramolecular assembly (MSA) offers a promising approach for fabricating 3D scaffolds with diverse and customizable surface chemistries.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel MSA method for fabricating 3D ordered structures with internal chemical diversity.
- To achieve site-selective cell adhesion by controlling the spatial distribution of biomolecules on the scaffold.
- To demonstrate the efficacy of this strategy for guiding cell behavior in tissue engineering.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of 3D structures using magnetic pick-and-place alignment of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) building blocks.
- Utilizing host/guest molecular recognition for interfacial binding between PDMS blocks.
- Modifying PDMS blocks with poly-l-lysine (PLL) and poly-d-lysine (PDL) to create chiral surfaces for differential cell adhesion.
Main Results:
- Successfully fabricated 3D scaffolds with internal chemical diversity using the MSA strategy.
- Demonstrated site-specific cell adhesion, with higher cell density observed on surfaces modified with PLL compared to PDL.
- Validated the principle of chiral molecule-directed cell adhesion across five different cell lines.
Conclusions:
- The developed MSA strategy provides a facile and flexible method for creating 3D microenvironments with on-demand chemical and biological diversity.
- This approach enables precise control over cell adhesion through the spatial arrangement of chiral molecules.
- The findings hold significant potential for advancing cell-material interactions studies and tissue formation applications.

