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Xie X, Maharjan S, Kelly C, Liu T, Lang RJ, Alperin R, Sebastian S, Bonilla D, Gandolfo S, Boukataya Y, Siadat SM, Zhang YS, Livermore C. Customizable Microfluidic Origami Liver-on-a-Chip (oLOC). Adv Mater Technol 2022; 7:2100677. [PMID: 35754760 PMCID: PMC9231824 DOI: 10.1002/admt.202100677] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2021] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
The design and manufacture of an origami-based liver-on-a-chip device are presented, together with demonstrations of the chip's effectiveness at recapitulating some of the liver's key in vivo architecture, physical microenvironment, and functions. Laser-cut layers of polyimide tape are folded together with polycarbonate nanoporous membranes to create a stack of three adjacent flow chambers separated by the membranes. Endothelial cells are seeded in the upper and lower flow chambers to simulate sinusoids, and hepatocytes are seeded in the middle flow chamber. Nutrients and metabolites flow through the simulated sinusoids and diffuse between the vascular pathways and the hepatocyte layers, mimicking physiological microcirculation. Studies of cell viability, metabolic functions, and hepatotoxicity of pharmaceutical compounds show that the endothelialized liver-on-a-chip model is conducive to maintaining hepatocyte functions and evaluation of the hepatotoxicity of drugs. Our unique origami approach speeds chip development and optimization, effectively simplifying the laboratory-scale fabrication of on-chip models of human tissues without necessarily reducing their structural and functional sophistication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Xie
- Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Sushila Maharjan
- Division of Engineering in Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Chastity Kelly
- Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Tian Liu
- Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | | | - Roger Alperin
- Department of Mathematics, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192
| | - Shikha Sebastian
- Division of Engineering in Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Diana Bonilla
- Division of Engineering in Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Sakura Gandolfo
- Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Yasmine Boukataya
- Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | | | - Yu Shrike Zhang
- Division of Engineering in Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Carol Livermore
- Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
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Siadat SM, Silverman AA, Susilo ME, Paten JA, DiMarzio CA, Ruberti JW. Development of Fluorescently Labeled, Functional Type I Collagen Molecules. Macromol Biosci 2021; 22:e2100144. [PMID: 34856056 DOI: 10.1002/mabi.202100144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2021] [Revised: 10/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
While de novo collagen fibril formation is well-studied, there are few investigations into the growth and remodeling of extant fibrils, where molecular collagen incorporation into and erosion from the fibril surface must delicately balance during fibril growth and remodeling. Observing molecule/fibril interactions is difficult, requiring the tracking of molecular dynamics while, at the same time, minimizing the effect of the observation on fibril structure and assembly. To address the observation-interference problem, exogenous collagen molecules are tagged with small fluorophores and the fibrillogenesis kinetics of labeled collagen molecules as well as the structure and network morphology of assembled fibrils are examined. While excessive labeling significantly disturbs fibrillogenesis kinetics and network morphology of assembled fibrils, adding less than ≈1.2 labels per collagen molecule preserves these characteristics. Applications of the functional, labeled collagen probe are demonstrated in both cellular and acellular systems. The functional, labeled collagen associates strongly with native fibrils and when added to an in vitro model of corneal stromal development at low concentration, the labeled collagen is incorporated into a fine extracellular matrix (ECM) network associated with the cells within 24 h.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Monica E Susilo
- Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Jeffrey A Paten
- John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02134, USA
| | - Charles A DiMarzio
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Jeffrey W Ruberti
- Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
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Alzola RP, Siadat SM, Gajjar A, Stureborg R, Ruberti JW, Delpiano J, DiMarzio CA. Method for measurement of collagen monomer orientation in fluorescence microscopy. J Biomed Opt 2021; 26:JBO-200401RR. [PMID: 34240588 PMCID: PMC8265821 DOI: 10.1117/1.jbo.26.7.076501] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2020] [Accepted: 06/24/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
SIGNIFICANCE Collagen is the most abundant protein in vertebrates and is found in tissues that regularly experience tension, compression, and shear forces. However, the underlying mechanism of collagen fibril formation and remodeling is poorly understood. AIM We explore how a collagen monomer is visualized using fluorescence microscopy and how its spatial orientation is determined. Defining the orientation of collagen monomers is not a trivial problem, as the monomer has a weak contrast and is relatively small. It is possible to attach fluorescence tags for contrast, but the size is still a problem for detecting orientation using fluorescence microscopy. APPROACH We present two methods for detecting a monomer and classifying its orientation. A modified Gabor filter set and an automatic classifier trained by convolutional neural network based on a synthetic dataset were used. RESULTS By evaluating the performance of these two approaches with synthetic and experimental data, our results show that it is possible to determine the location and orientation with an error of ∼37 deg of a single monomer with fluorescence microscopy. CONCLUSIONS These findings can contribute to our understanding of collagen monomers interaction with collagen fibrils surface during fibril formation and remodeling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rodrigo P. Alzola
- Northeastern University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- Universidad de los Andes, Optical Communications Lab, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Santiago, Chile
| | - Seyed Mohammad Siadat
- Northeastern University, Department of Bioengineering, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
| | - Anuj Gajjar
- Northeastern University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
| | - Rickard Stureborg
- Northeastern University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
| | - Jeffrey W. Ruberti
- Northeastern University, Department of Bioengineering, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
| | - Jose Delpiano
- Universidad de los Andes, Optical Communications Lab, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Santiago, Chile
| | - Charles A. DiMarzio
- Northeastern University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- Northeastern University, Department of Bioengineering, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- Northeastern University, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
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Siadat SM, Silverman AA, DiMarzio CA, Ruberti JW. Measuring collagen fibril diameter with differential interference contrast microscopy. J Struct Biol 2021; 213:107697. [PMID: 33545351 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsb.2021.107697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2020] [Revised: 12/04/2020] [Accepted: 01/12/2021] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Collagen fibrils, linear arrangements of collagen monomers, 20-500 nm in diameter, comprising hundreds of molecules in their cross-section, are the fundamental structural unit in a variety of load-bearing tissues such as tendons, ligaments, skin, cornea, and bone. These fibrils often assemble into more complex structures, providing mechanical stability, strength, or toughness to the host tissue. Unfortunately, there is little information available on individual fibril dynamics, mechanics, growth, aggregation and remodeling because they are difficult to image using visible light as a probe. The principle quantity of interest is the fibril diameter, which is difficult to extract accurately, dynamically, in situ and non-destructively. An optical method, differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy has been used to visualize dynamic structures that are as small as microtubules (25 nm diameter) and has been shown to be sensitive to the size of objects smaller than the wavelength of light. In this investigation, we take advantage of DIC microscopy's ability to report dimensions of nanometer scale objects to generate a curve that relates collagen diameter to DIC edge intensity shift (DIC-EIS). We further calibrate the curve using electron microscopy and demonstrate a linear correlation between fibril diameter and the DIC-EIS. Using a non-oil immersion, 40x objective (NA 0.6), collagen fibril diameters between ~100 nm to ~ 300 nm could be obtained with ±11 and ±4 nm accuracy for dehydrated and hydrated fibrils, respectively. This simple, nondestructive, label free method should advance our ability to directly examine fibril dynamics under experimental conditions that are physiologically relevant.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Charles A DiMarzio
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Jeffrey W Ruberti
- Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
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Siadat SM, Zamboulis DE, Thorpe CT, Ruberti JW, Connizzo BK. Tendon Extracellular Matrix Assembly, Maintenance and Dysregulation Throughout Life. Adv Exp Med Biol 2021; 1348:45-103. [PMID: 34807415 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-80614-9_3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
In his Lissner Award medal lecture in 2000, Stephen Cowin asked the question: "How is a tissue built?" It is not a new question, but it remains as relevant today as it did when it was asked 20 years ago. In fact, research on the organization and development of tissue structure has been a primary focus of tendon and ligament research for over two centuries. The tendon extracellular matrix (ECM) is critical to overall tissue function; it gives the tissue its unique mechanical properties, exhibiting complex non-linear responses, viscoelasticity and flow mechanisms, excellent energy storage and fatigue resistance. This matrix also creates a unique microenvironment for resident cells, allowing cells to maintain their phenotype and translate mechanical and chemical signals into biological responses. Importantly, this architecture is constantly remodeled by local cell populations in response to changing biochemical (systemic and local disease or injury) and mechanical (exercise, disuse, and overuse) stimuli. Here, we review the current understanding of matrix remodeling throughout life, focusing on formation and assembly during the postnatal period, maintenance and homeostasis during adulthood, and changes to homeostasis in natural aging. We also discuss advances in model systems and novel tools for studying collagen and non-collagenous matrix remodeling throughout life, and finally conclude by identifying key questions that have yet to be answered.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Danae E Zamboulis
- Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Chavaunne T Thorpe
- Comparative Biomedical Sciences, The Royal Veterinary College, University of London, London, UK
| | - Jeffrey W Ruberti
- Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Brianne K Connizzo
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
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Paten JA, Martin CL, Wanis JT, Siadat SM, Figueroa-Navedo AM, Ruberti JW, Deravi LF. Molecular Interactions between Collagen and Fibronectin: A Reciprocal Relationship that Regulates De Novo Fibrillogenesis. Chem 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chempr.2019.05.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Paten JA, Siadat SM, Susilo ME, Ismail EN, Stoner JL, Rothstein JP, Ruberti JW. Correction to Flow-Induced Crystallization of Collagen: A Potentially Critical Mechanism in Early Tissue Formation. ACS Nano 2017; 11:8527. [PMID: 28792727 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.7b05275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
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Paten JA, Siadat SM, Susilo ME, Ismail EN, Stoner JL, Rothstein JP, Ruberti JW. Flow-Induced Crystallization of Collagen: A Potentially Critical Mechanism in Early Tissue Formation. ACS Nano 2016; 10:5027-40. [PMID: 27070851 PMCID: PMC6037489 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.5b07756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
The type I collagen monomer is one of nature's most exquisite and prevalent structural tools. Its 300 nm triple-helical motifs assemble into tough extracellular fibers that transition seamlessly across tissue boundaries and exceed cell dimensions by up to 4 orders of magnitude. In spite of extensive investigation, no existing model satisfactorily explains how such continuous structures are generated and grown precisely where they are needed (aligned in the path of force) by discrete, microscale cells using materials with nanoscale dimensions. We present a simple fiber drawing experiment, which demonstrates that slightly concentrated type I collagen monomers can be "flow-crystallized" to form highly oriented, continuous, hierarchical fibers at cell-achievable strain rates (<1 s(-1)) and physiologically relevant concentrations (∼50 μM). We also show that application of tension following the drawing process maintains the structural integrity of the fibers. While mechanical tension has been shown to be a critical factor driving collagen fibril formation during tissue morphogenesis in developing animals, the precise role of force in the process of building tissue is not well understood. Our data directly couple mechanical tension, specifically the extensional strain rate, to collagen fibril assembly. We further derive a "growth equation" which predicts that application of extensional strains, either globally by developing muscles or locally by fibroblasts, can rapidly drive the fusion of already formed short fibrils to produce long-range, continuous fibers. The results provide a pathway to scalable connective tissue manufacturing and support a mechano-biological model of collagen fibril deposition and growth in vivo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey A Paten
- Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University , 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
| | - Seyed Mohammad Siadat
- Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University , 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
| | - Monica E Susilo
- Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University , 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
| | - Ebraheim N Ismail
- Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University , 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
| | - Jayson L Stoner
- Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University , 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
| | - Jonathan P Rothstein
- Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst , 160 Governors Drive, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, United States
| | - Jeffrey W Ruberti
- Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University , 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
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