AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Biomaterial Interfaces Tuesday Sessions
       Session BI-TuA

Paper BI-TuA1
Substrate Rigidity Regulates the Formation and Maintenance of Tissues

Tuesday, November 14, 2006, 2:00 pm, Room 2001

Session: Cells at Surfaces
Presenter: N.A. Burnham, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Authors: W. Guo, University of Massachusetts Medical School
M.T. Frey, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
N.A. Burnham, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Y. Wang, University of Massachusetts Medical School
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***PLEASE NOTE: YOU MUST IDENTIFY A DIFFERENT PRESENTER FOR THIS ABSTRACT. YOU MAY PRESENT ONE (1) PAPER ONLY AT THE CONFERENCE***The ability of cells to form tissues represents one of the most fundamental issues in biology. However, it is unclear what triggers cells to adhere to one another in tissues or to migrate once a piece of tissue is planted on culture surfaces. Using substrates of identical chemical composition but different flexibility, we show that this process can be controlled by substrate rigidity. The moduli of the polyacrylamide substrates were determined through analysis of atomic-force-microscopy (AFM) force curves to be a few kilopascals, the exact value depending on substrate preparation. The novel aspects of the acquisition and treatment of the force-curve data were 1) the use of log-log plots to observe where on the curve the tip was indenting the sample like a punch, sphere, or cone, and 2) the necessary metrology to bring the typical uncalibrated AFM relative uncertainty of a few hundred percent down to 13%. These methodologies can help researchers more properly interpret their results. @FootnoteText@ Biophysical Journal 90, 2213-20 (2006).