Abstract
Chirality is an intrinsic cellular property that describes cell polarization biases along the left–right axis, apicobasal axis, or front–rear axes. Cell chirality plays a significant role in the arrangement of organs in the body as well as in the orientation of organelles, cytoskeletons, and cells. Vascular networks within the endometrium, the mucosal inner lining of the uterus, commonly display spiral architectures that rapidly form across the menstrual cycle. Herein, the role of endometrial-relevant extracellular matrix stiffness, composition, and soluble signals on endometrial endothelial cell chirality is systematically examined using a high-throughput microarray. Endometrial endothelial cells display marked patterns of chirality as individual cells and as cohorts in response to substrate stiffness and environmental cues. Vascular networks formed from endometrial endothelial cells also display shifts in chirality as a function of exogenous hormones. Changes in cellular-scale chirality correlate with changes in vascular network parameters, suggesting a critical role for cellular chirality in directing endometrial vessel network organization.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 2303928 |
| Journal | Advanced healthcare materials |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 7 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2024 The Authors. Advanced Healthcare Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.
Funding
This research report was supported by the National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers R01 DK0099528 (B.A.C.H.) and R01 DK125471 (G.H.U.), the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01 CA256481 (B.A.C.H), and by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number T32 EB019944 (S.G.Z.). The content herein is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The authors gratefully acknowledge additional funding provided by the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The authors also thank the Institute for Genomic Biology Core Facilities (Dr. Austin Cyphersmith) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for assistance with imaging and Dr. Cody Crosby and Dr. Janet Zoldan for providing the image analysis pipeline for endothelial network characterization. Lastly, the authors would like to thank Dr. Shelly Peyton (UMass) for conversations about the spiral arteries of the endometrium that inspired them to pursue this study. This research report was supported by the National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers R01 DK0099528 (B.A.C.H.) and R01 DK125471 (G.H.U.), the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01 CA256481 (B.A.C.H), and by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number T32 EB019944 (S.G.Z.). The content herein is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The authors gratefully acknowledge additional funding provided by the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana‐Champaign. The authors also thank the Institute for Genomic Biology Core Facilities (Dr. Austin Cyphersmith) at the University of Illinois Urbana‐Champaign for assistance with imaging and Dr. Cody Crosby and Dr. Janet Zoldan for providing the image analysis pipeline for endothelial network characterization. Lastly, the authors would like to thank Dr. Shelly Peyton (UMass) for conversations about the spiral arteries of the endometrium that inspired them to pursue this study.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign | |
| Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering | |
| National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases | |
| National Institutes of Health (NIH) | R01 DK125471, R01 DK0099528 |
| National Institutes of Health (NIH) | |
| National Childhood Cancer Registry – National Cancer Institute | R01 CA256481 |
| National Childhood Cancer Registry – National Cancer Institute | |
| National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering | T32 EB019944 |
| National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering |
Keywords
- biomaterials
- chirality
- endometrium
- endothelial cells
- micropatterning
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biomaterials
- Biomedical Engineering
- Pharmaceutical Science