培養細胞組織の界面物性評価に向けた細胞外マトリックス観察

抄録

This study performed the microscopic observation of extracellular matrices (ECMs) for the assessment of interfacial properties on cultivated cellular tissues. The ECM is the complex of biomacromolecules located in the outer space of cells and structured with three-dimensional network. When the interfacial properties such as roughness and wettability are assessed for understanding the functionality of cultivated cellular tissues, the assessed results mainly contain the information of ECMs instead of cells inside because the cells were embedded in ECMs. Therefore, it is important to observe how the ECM macromolecules distribute in the tissues. Here, two different types of ECM macromolecules; fibronectin (Fn) and hyaluronic acid (HA), were selected for microscopic observation. Fn is one of the major proteins in ECM macromolecules and provides the binding ability to both cells and other ECM molecules such as collagen. HA is one of the abundant polysaccharides filling the extracellular spaces and produces the ability to resist compression from outer forces.