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Grolleman J, van Engeland NCA, Raza M, Azimi S, Conte V, Sahlgren CM, Bouten CVC. Environmental stiffness restores mechanical homeostasis in vimentin-depleted cells. Sci Rep 2023; 13:18374. [PMID: 37884575 PMCID: PMC10603057 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-44835-8] [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] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2023] [Accepted: 10/12/2023] [Indexed: 10/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent experimental evidence indicates a role for the intermediate filament vimentin in regulating cellular mechanical homeostasis, but its precise contribution remains to be discovered. Mechanical homeostasis requires a balanced bi-directional interplay between the cell's microenvironment and the cellular morphological and mechanical state-this balance being regulated via processes of mechanotransduction and mechanoresponse, commonly referred to as mechanoreciprocity. Here, we systematically analyze vimentin-expressing and vimentin-depleted cells in a swatch of in vitro cellular microenvironments varying in stiffness and/or ECM density. We find that vimentin-expressing cells maintain mechanical homeostasis by adapting cellular morphology and mechanics to micromechanical changes in the microenvironment. However, vimentin-depleted cells lose this mechanoresponse ability on short timescales, only to reacquire it on longer time scales. Indeed, we find that the morphology and mechanics of vimentin-depleted cell in stiffened microenvironmental conditions can get restored to the homeostatic levels of vimentin-expressing cells. Additionally, we observed vimentin-depleted cells increasing collagen matrix synthesis and its crosslinking, a phenomenon which is known to increase matrix stiffness, and which we now hypothesize to be a cellular compensation mechanism for the loss of vimentin. Taken together, our findings provide further insight in the regulating role of intermediate filament vimentin in mediating mechanoreciprocity and mechanical homeostasis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janine Grolleman
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Soft Tissue Engineering and Mechanobiology, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, 5612AE, The Netherlands
- Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, 5600MB, The Netherlands
| | - Nicole C A van Engeland
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Soft Tissue Engineering and Mechanobiology, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, 5612AE, The Netherlands
- Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, 5600MB, The Netherlands
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Cell Biology, Åbobo Akademi University, 20520, Turku, Finland
| | - Minahil Raza
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Information Technology, Åbobo Akademi University, 20500, Turku, Finland
| | - Sepinoud Azimi
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Information Technology, Åbobo Akademi University, 20500, Turku, Finland
- Department of Information and Communication Technology, Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, Delft, 2600GA, The Netherlands
| | - Vito Conte
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Soft Tissue Engineering and Mechanobiology, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, 5612AE, The Netherlands.
- Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, 5600MB, The Netherlands.
- Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, 08036, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Cecilia M Sahlgren
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Soft Tissue Engineering and Mechanobiology, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, 5612AE, The Netherlands.
- Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, 5600MB, The Netherlands.
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Cell Biology, Åbobo Akademi University, 20520, Turku, Finland.
| | - Carlijn V C Bouten
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Soft Tissue Engineering and Mechanobiology, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, 5612AE, The Netherlands.
- Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, 5600MB, The Netherlands.
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