Topographic Reactions of Cells in Tissue Repair

MacDonald, Karen (1997) Topographic Reactions of Cells in Tissue Repair. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

In this study, cells have been grown on micro- and nano-fabricated silica grooved structures in order to investigate further the mechanism of contact guidance, and with a view to producing a possible implant to guide tissue regrowth in wound healing. Previous work had shown that when cells are grown on microgrooved structures they align parallel with the grooves and the actin cytoskeleton of the cells aligns in a similar way. Results from this study have shown ordered staining of phosphorylated tyrosine along groove/ridge boundaries (on micro- and nanogrooved structures), suggesting a possible role for tyrosine phosphorylation in the mechanism that guides cell alignment on grooved substrates. It would appear that P388D1 macrophage-like cells show greater sensitivity to topographical cues than other cell types investigated, as these cells were shown to react to grooves of a depth as shallow as 44nm. Grooved structures were also fabricated in a biodegradable polyester, polydioxanone suture material (PDS), thought to be a suitable material for use as an implanted device. In vitro, cells reacted to these grooves in the same way as silica grooved structures. When the biodegradable structures were implanted intramuscularly in rats no adverse tissue reaction was observed, and the polydioxanone absorption profile remained normal. From histological and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) studies, it was not possible to determine whether cells are oriented by the polydioxanone grooves in vivo. Messenger RNA fingerprinting experiments have also shown that cells grown on grooved substrates show differential gene expression compared with cells grown on flat substrates. Bands expressed in samples from cells grown on grooved substrates, but not in samples from cells grown on flat substrates, were excised from gels then cloned and sequenced.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Adviser: Adam Curtis
• Keywords: Cellular biology
• Date of Award: 1997
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1997-75857
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 19 Nov 2019 17:43
• Last Modified: 19 Nov 2019 17:43
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/75857