Cells Microenvironment Engineering

The membrane-substrate interactions have a topological valence and represent a level of information exchange between the cell and the extra-cellular matrix and/or between cells. The interactions can vary with boundary conditions and can be altered by varying the chemical and/or physical properties of the substrate. The alteration can presumably result in differentiation or specialization of the cells, but this fundamental aspect must still be fully understood. In such a frame, we investigated the levels of transcriptional coactivators YAP/TAZ throughout C2C12 differentiation on standard two-dimensional substrates and on polyethylene glycol-fibrinogen three-dimensional microenvironment. In detail, we observed that the use of a three-dimensional matrix permits an earlier differentiation in muscular cells when compared to standard bidimensional substrates. On such a basis, we want to investigate the modulation of a more regular threedimensional pattern on cells proliferation response and we propose a matrix, generable with multiphoton absorption, with regular aligned channels in order to overcome the current limitation in muscle regeneration techniques, so a possible tool to improve the myofibers formation and alignment.