New Tool For Organ Repair: Curvature Of The Environment

Cells interacting with a curved surface under microscope

An overview of the different geometries and their curvature

3D printed porous bone implants could benefit from geometrical designs and optimized curvatures

The curvature of biomaterials inhibits or stimulates bone cells to make new tissue, TU Delft engineers show in research into repairing damaged tissues.

DELFT, ZUID-HOLLAND, NETHERLANDS, March 3, 2023 /einpresswire.com / -- A ball, a saddle, or a flat plate. The curvature of biomaterials inhibits or stimulates bone cells to make new tissue. This is what TU Delft engineers show in research published on Friday, 3rd of March in Nature Communications. This study of geometries could be an important step in research into repairing damaged tissues.

Living cells can perceive and respond to the geometry of their environment. 'Cells sense and respond to the geometry of the surfaces they are exposed to. Depending on their curvature, surfaces can either encourage cells to create new tissue or prevent them from doing so,' says Amir Zadpoor, professor of Biomaterials and Tissue Biomechanics, supervisor of the study. 'Stimulating curvatures made by a 3D printer are an easy and safe way to promote tissue growth. As compared to drugs, they are also much cheaper.'

In Petri dishes, the researchers grew bone cells surrounded by small molds made from biomaterials with which the researchers have experience. Depending on the curvatures in the molds, the cells tended to grow, divide, and form tissue to different extents.

Cells like a saddle shape
Although curved shapes seem to exist in endless variations, they always fall roughly into one of these three categories: a ball that has a convex curvature, a saddle that has a concave curvature, and a plate that is flat. One of the authors, assistant professor of Biomaterials Lidy Fratila-Apachitei: 'Cells prefer a saddle shape. If they perceive a saddle shape nearby, growth is stimulated. The study also shows that cells prefer valleys over hills.'

Rather aligned than bent
First author Sebastien Callens did the experiments and analysis in the study. 'Cells also have a skeleton, which consists of fibers that are under tension to different degrees. How tension builds up in those fibers strongly influences the behavior of cells. Our study shows that cells collectively align their stress fibers with the curvatures they experience to minimize their need to bend. I could see that cells prefer to align than to bend.'

Budget of saddle curvature
You can't have only saddle curves around cells. Just as the three angles of a triangle always add up to 180 degrees, the sum of all curvatures must also equal some fundamental numbers. 'You always have a limited budget of saddle shapes,' says Zadpoor. 'If you use too much negative curvature somewhere, you must use positive curvatures somewhere else to keep the sum constant. You need to use your budget wisely to encourage maximum tissue regeneration.'

New biomaterials
The study provides guidance on the optimal geometry of biomaterials and implants to maximize tissue regeneration. The complex geometric designs required are made using high-precision 3D printing techniques to make the shapes so small that they are perceptible to cells. Callens: 'We have now discovered new playing rules by which biomaterials can stimulate tissue growth. In follow-up research, we will try to apply those rules optimally.'

More information
If you would like to know more about how the curvature of biomaterials around bone tissue inhibits or stimulates bone cells to create new tissue, please feel free to contact us:

.Fien Bosman – Science information officer Health & Care – / 06 2495 3733
.Amir Zadpoor – Professor of Biomaterials and Tissue Biomechanics – / 06 4344 7445

Want more information about publication immediately? Then check out the link and video below.

Emergent collective organization of bone cells in complex curvature fields
Nature Communications, 3 March 2023

Media package (photos, video, animations, paper):

Amir A Zadpoor
TUDelft
+31 15 278 1021
email us here
Visit us on social media:
twitter

MENAFN03032023003118003196ID1105701165