Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Stem-cell differentiation

Anchoring cell-fate cues

The spreading and differentiation of stem cells depends on the stiffness of the extracellular matrix. Now, experiments on human epidermal and mesenchymal stem cells cultured on substrates with covalently attached collagen fibres show that the cells sense and respond to the anchoring of the collagen fibres to the substrate.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Stem cells pull on collagen fibres (red) attached to a matrix (green) through integrin receptors (grey) to make fate decisions7.

References

  1. Engler, A. J., Sen, S., Sweeney, H. L. & Discher, D. E. Cell 126, 677–689 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Rowlands, A. S., George, P. A. & Cooper-White, J. J. Am. J. Physiol. Cell. Physiol. 295, C1037–C1044 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Huebsch, N. et al. Nature Mater. 9, 518–526 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Parekh, S. H. et al. Biomaterials 32, 2256–2264 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Pek, Y. S., Wan, A. C. & Ying, J. Y. Biomaterials 31, 385–391 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. McBeath, R., Pirone, D. M., Nelson, C. M., Bhadriraju, K. & Chen, C. S. Dev. Cell 6, 483–495 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Trappmann, B. et al. Nature Mater. 11, 642–649 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Storm, C., Pastore, J. J., MacKintosh, F. C., Lubensky, T. C. & Janmey, P. A. Nature 435, 191–194 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Cameron, A. R., Frith, J. E. & Cooper-White, J. J. Biomaterials 32, 5979–5993 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Murrell, M., Kamm, R. & Matsudaira, P. Biophys. J. 101, 297–306 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Kim, B. S., Nikolovski, J., Bonadio, J. & Mooney, D. J. Nature Biotechnol. 17, 979–983 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Byfield, F. J. et al. Biophys. J. 96, 5095–5102 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Vogel, V. & Sheetz, M. Nature Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 7, 265–275 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Collet, J. P., Shuman, H., Ledger, R. E., Lee, S. & Weisel, J. W. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 102, 9133–9137 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David J. Mooney.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Chaudhuri, O., Mooney, D. Anchoring cell-fate cues. Nature Mater 11, 568–569 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3366

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3366

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing