What is it about?
Nano- and micro-scale engineered surface structures are often used to control cell morphology and mimic the extracellular matrix in tissue engineering. However, there is little understanding of how toxins produced by common bacteria might affect cell adhesion to these structures. In this study, human dermal fibroblast (GM5565) cells were incubated on patterned tungsten/silicon oxide nanocomposite in media in the presence or absence of Antimycin A. This composite consists of parallel tungsten and silicon oxide lines with identical widths in the range of 0.18 and 50 μm. The morphology of the cells and of their mitochondria was characterized by using high-resolution scanning electron microscopy and fluorescence confocal microscopy. Results show that cells preferentially align along the line axes in a pattern-dependent manner, with a maximum population of cells oriented within 10° of the line axes on the structures containing 10 μm wide lines. Cells treated with Antimycin A, however, show a smaller proportion of cells oriented in this direction as compared to cells cultured in Antimycin A-free media (34.4% vs 53.0%). The majority of mitochondria in cells growing in Antimycin A-free media are tubular in shape and are preferentially positioned on the tungsten lines, whereas these organelles exhibit a circular geometry and are less attracted to the metal lines in the presence of Antimycin A.
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Why is it important?
The primary objective of this study was to characterize the adhesion behaviours of human fibroblast cells (GM5565) to tungsten-silicon oxide nanocomposite surfaces and determine how these engineered surface features would affect the morphology of the mitochondria, the organelles that produce the bulk of cellular ATP in most cells. In addition to studying the mitochondrial morphology and distribution in fibroblasts adhering to these engineered substrates, a secondary objective was to investigate the influences of a known mitochondrial poison that would affect the oxidative capacity of these organelles and decrease in ATP production.
Perspectives
The results presented here demonstrate that cultured human fibroblasts exhibit a clear preference for adhesion to tungsten as compared to silicon oxide. This behavior leads to cell elongation on the chemical-mechanical polished tungsten/silicon oxide nanocomposite surfaces. We find that maximum cell alignment is observed on the 10 μm comb structures and is not affected by the presence of a respiratory inhibitor. However, in the presence of Antimycin A there does appear to be a statistically significant difference in the number of cells that are aligned within ± 10° of the tungsten line axes. A time course study also reveals different alignment performance between cells cultured in media in the presence or absence of Antimycin A, with the variation only becoming significant after cells have been cultured for 24 hours or longer. We also show, for the first time, the morphology of the mitochondrial reticulum from cells incubated in Antimycin A-free media and find that these essential organelles show preferential subcellular localization to the tungsten structures and that a majority of them are maintained in a tubular shape. Perhaps most importantly, this behavior associated with the mitochondrial reticulum is lost upon exposure of the cells to Antimycin A and the organelles acquire a more punctate staining pattern.
PhD Hassan I. Moussa
Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Influence of Antimycin A, a bacterial toxin, on human dermal fibroblast cell adhesion to tungsten-silicon oxide nanocomposites, Journal of Experimental Nanoscience, January 2019, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/17458080.2019.1637517.
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