Developing Fibrous Biomaterials to Modulate Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition

Despite their critical roles in tissue repair and pathological processes such as fibrosis, tumor invasion and metastasis, the origins of mesenchymal cells remain poorly understood. Among the likely routes, epithelial to mesenchymal transitions (EMTs) emerge as important source of these cells. EMTs manifests themselves as a phenotypic transition in terminally differentiated epithelial cells into mesenchymal cells which is closely related to embryogenesis and organ development as well as in chronically inflamed tissues and neoplasia. There exists a potential for successful engineering of biomimetic environments that closely reflects and reciprocates the dynamic changes in the cellular microenvironment during EMT and relies on integrating the mechanical sensing mechanisms found in the native tissues into the synthetic scaffolds to understand cellular plasticity. Extracellular matrix (ECM) has complex structures composed of a collection of extracellular molecules including fibrous proteins and glycoproteins in a hydrated mixture of glycosaminoglycans and proteoglycans. Therefore, fibrous materials have been increasingly applied in tissue engineering applications since biomaterials need to restore ECM structures to provide physical, biochemical and biomechanical signals to define cellular behaviors and tissue functions. This review summarizes materials used for fibrous scaffolds including natural and synthetic materials, highlights recent development of fabrication techniques, cha...
Source: Cells Tissues Organs - Category: Cytology Source Type: research