Mouse Hepatocytes Retain the Expression of the Main Differentiation Markers during Culturing on Collagen-Chitosan Matrices

摘要

Mouse hepatocytes cultured on artificial 3D collagen-chitosan biopolymer matrices retained the expression of hepatocyte markers for 14 days Artificial materials intended for substitute therapy for human diseases involving loss of functionally competent cells have been created in recent years. Normal tissues are characterized by complex ultrastructure, including, in addition to various specialized cells, the extracellular matrix which serves as not only mechanical support for cells and blood vessels, but also provides delivery of proliferative and differentiation signals to them. Acknowledgment of the absolute importance of the matrix for the formation of the natural cellular microenvironment led to a wide-scale search for its artificial substitutes and creation on their basis of constructions providing more accurate reproduction of cell-cell interactions characteristic of intact tissues. It is assumed that 3D biopolymeric microenvironment promotes normal orientation of the cell cytoskeleton and enables cell growth and migration in the matrix, with proliferative activity and differentiation status of these cells retained.