Characterization of Photo-Crosslinked Methacrylated Type I Collagen as a Platform to Investigate the Lymphatic Endothelial Cell Response
| dc.contributor.author | Ruliffson, Brian N. K. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Larson, Stephen M. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Xhupi, Eleni K. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Herrera-Diaz, Diana L. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Whittington, Catherine F. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-09-27T13:18:40Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-09-27T13:18:40Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024-09-19 | |
| dc.date.updated | 2024-09-27T13:18:40Z | |
| dc.description.abstract | Despite chronic fibrosis occurring in many pathological conditions, few in vitro studies examine how fibrosis impacts lymphatic endothelial cell (LEC) behavior. This study examined stiffening profiles of PhotoCol<sup>®</sup>—commercially available methacrylated type I collagen—photo-crosslinked with the photoinitiators: Lithium phenyl-2,4,6-trimethylbenzoylphosphinate (LAP), Irgacure 2959 (IRG), and Ruthenium/Sodium Persulfate (Ru/SPS) prior to evaluating PhotoCol<sup>®</sup> permeability and LEC response to PhotoCol<sup>®</sup> at stiffnesses representing normal and fibrotic tissues. Ru/SPS produced the highest stiffness (~6 kilopascal (kPa)) for photo-crosslinked PhotoCol<sup>®</sup>, but stiffness did not change with burst light exposures (30 and 90 s). The collagen fibril area fraction increased, and dextran permeability (40 kilodalton (kDa)) decreased with photo-crosslinking, showing the impact of photo-crosslinking on microstructure and molecular transport. Human dermal LECs on softer, uncrosslinked PhotoCol<sup>®</sup> (~0.5 kPa) appeared smaller with less prominent vascular endothelial (VE)-cadherin (cell–cell junction) expression compared to LECs on stiffer PhotoCol<sup>®</sup> (~6 kPa), which had increased cell size, border irregularity, and VE-cadherin thickness (junction zippering) that is consistent with LEC morphology in fibrotic tissues. Our quantitative morphological analysis demonstrates our ability to produce LECs with a fibrotic phenotype, and the overall study shows that PhotoCol<sup>®</sup> with Ru/SPS provides the necessary physical properties to systematically study LEC responses related to capillary growth and function under fibrotic conditions. | |
| dc.description.department | Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering | |
| dc.identifier | doi: 10.3390/lymphatics2030015 | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Lymphatics 2 (3): 177-194 (2024) | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12588/6630 | |
| dc.title | Characterization of Photo-Crosslinked Methacrylated Type I Collagen as a Platform to Investigate the Lymphatic Endothelial Cell Response |