Microenvironmental factors, including substrate stiffness, regulate stem cell behavior and differentiation. However, the effects of substrate stiffness on the behavior of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)- derived embryoid bodies (EB) remain unclear. To investigate the effects of mechanical cues on iPSC-EB differentiation, a 3D hydrogel-sandwich culture (HGSC) system is developed that controls the microenvironment surrounding iPSC-EBs using a stiffness-tunable polyacrylamide hydrogel assembly. Mouse iPSC-EBs are seeded between upper and lower polyacrylamide hydrogels of differing stiffness (Young's modulus [E’] = 54.3 ± 7.1 kPa [hard], 28.1 ± 2.3 kPa [moderate], and 5.1 ± 0.1 kPa [soft]) and cultured for 2 days. HGSC induces stiffness-dependent activation of the yes-associated protein (YAP) mechanotransducer and actin cytoskeleton rearrangement in the iPSC-EBs. Moreover, moderate-stiffness HGSC specifically upregulates the mRNA and protein expression of ectoderm and mesoderm lineage differentiation markers in iPSC-EBs via YAP-mediated mechanotransduction. Pretreatment of mouse iPSC-EBs with moderate-stiffness HGSC promotes cardiomyocyte (CM) differentiation and structural maturation of myofibrils. The proposed HGSC system provides a viable platform for investigating the role of mechanical cues on the pluripotency and differentiation of iPSCs that can be beneficial for research into tissue regeneration and engineering. 相似文献
In this paper we study two different problems. First we present a novel result about the existence of a family of odd subharmonics with prescribed nodal properties for a general nonlinear oscillator with bounded domain and symmetries. Then we apply the general existence result to the Comb-drive finger MEMS model with a cubic nonlinear stiffness term, and prove analytically that the odd positive subharmonic of order two is linearly stable whenever the AC load of the input voltage is small enough. Moreover, we demonstrate a bi-stability regime for this model because the trivial solution is also linearly stable. The general existence result was obtained through a generalization of the Ortega’s variational principle (Ortega, 2016), and the stability assertions were obtained by following the perturbation approach in Cen et al. (2020) for the linear stability of a nontrivial periodic solution that emanates from the autonomous problem, and the well-known Zukovskii criterion. 相似文献
Nanoparticles in a flexible polymer melt film often segregate to the substrate due to attractive depletion interactions between the nanoparticles and the substrate. Here, molecular dynamics simulations are performed to study the effect of chain stiffness on this segregation. The nanoparticles are modeled as spheres and the polymers as semi‐flexible bead‐spring chains. Both purely repulsive and attractive forces are considered, while assuming non‐selective interactions among all species. The nanoparticles are found to be well‐dispersed in the system having repulsive forces only and aggregate into clusters in the completely attractive system. For the repulsive system, adding chain stiffness substantially decreases the nanoparticles' segregation, and hence their concentration, at the substrate.
In this work, an engineered hydrogel system with a 2D and 3D tunable cross‐linking degree is presented. A precise chemical design by the introduction of cross‐linkable units, having reaction orthogonality, allows to control the network formation both in time and space and to selectively alter the hydrogel physical properties. Hydrogel chemistry has been tailored in order to produce spatially controlled stiffness changes and drive cell morphology through mechanical cues. Elastic modulus rises by more than double after photocross‐linking, as shown by atomic force microscopy measurements. Biological response is also analyzed and stiffness‐dependent cell spreading and proliferation are verified. Different pattern geometries are successfully realized by UV lithography, allowing 2D cross‐linking modulation. Furthermore, 3D mechanical tuning at micro‐ and submicrometer scale by two‐photon polymerization makes this system a biologically relevant matrix to study cell functions and tissue development.
Blends covering the entire range of compositions of a metallocenic ethylene-1-octene, CEO, copolymer and two conventional isotactic polypropylenes, iPP, of different molecular weights have been prepared, analyzing the effect of composition and molecular weight on the crystallization (studied by DSC and X-ray diffraction) and viscoelastic behavior (DMTA). It was found that those blends rich in the iPP component show a behavior practically coincident with the weighted addition of the two components. On the contrary, significant deviations were found for the blends where the CEO copolymer is the major component. These deviations are considerably more important in the case of the blends with the iPP of higher molecular weight. Moreover, both components are not miscible, exhibiting the glass transitions of the two neat components. The area under the loss tangent curves provides a preliminary information about how the toughness is enhanced using this type of impact modifier, though it provokes a significant reduction of stiffness. 相似文献
The support structure of a rotor system is subject to vibration excitation,which results in the stiffness of the support structure varying with the excitation frequency(i.e., the dynamic stiffness). However, the dynamic stiffness and its effect mechanism have been rarely incorporated in open studies of the rotor system. Therefore, this study theoretically reveals the effect mechanism of dynamic stiffness on the rotor system. Then,the numerical study and experimental verification are conducted on... 相似文献
