Internal Fluid Flow Increases Cellular Interconnects between Medial Collateral Ligament Fibroblasts and Cellular Extensions within Three-Dimensional Collagen Matrixes

摘要

The interconnectivity of fibroblasts within the ligamenttous extracellular matrix has been largely overlooded. Studies on the cell-to-cell contacts with their neighbors via gap junctions in ligament fibroblasts, and works on the ability of fibroblasts to generate interconnected networks in vivo, suggest interfibroblastic interactions play an important role in fundamental biologicla processes, including homeostasis and wound healing. The currentstudy examines how fluidic shear stresses imposed by internal flow can be used to mediate the formation of three-dimensional, interconnected fibroblast networks within collagen solutions. Several fibroblast-collagen solutions were exposed to shear stresses via Polselle Flow. The consequent changes in cess networking, interconnections, and cell morpology within collagen matrixeexhibited by cessl derived from Bovine Medial Collateral Ligaments were analyzed. Results illustrate that higher imposed stresses generate cells with more dendrtic and/or branched morphologies, which form more visible three-dimensional networks within collagen matrixes than fibroblast-collagen sloutions that were unexpolsed to shear stress.