Abstract
The mechanics of bio-artificial tissue constructs result from active and passive contributions of cells and extracellular matrix (ECM). We delineated these for a fibroblast-populated matrix (FPM) consisting of chick embryo fibroblast cells in a type I collagen ECM through mechanical testing, mechanical modeling, and selective biochemical elimination of tissue components. From a series of relaxation tests, we found that contributions to overall tissue mechanics from both cells and ECM increase exponentially with the cell concentration. The force responses in these relaxation tests exhibited a logarithmic decay over the 3600 second test duration. The amplitudes of these responses were nearly linear with the amplitude of the applied stretch. The active component of cellular forces rose dramatically for FPMs containing higher cell concentrations.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health through grants AR47591 and GM38838. The authors thank Tetsuro Wakatsuki for many insightful discussions.
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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10439-006-9215-4
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Marquez, J.P., Genin, G.M., Pryse, K.M. et al. Cellular and Matrix Contributions to Tissue Construct Stiffness Increase with Cellular Concentration. Ann Biomed Eng 34, 1475–1482 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-006-9160-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-006-9160-2