Biomaterial Platforms to Investigate the Fundamentals of Cell Migration

Increasing evidence suggests that the extracellular matrix (ECM) plays a critical role in regulating the behavior of cells in a multitude of tissue systems. The ECM contains a number of biochemical and biophysical properties, some of which have already been shown to direct cell migration in vitro, namely the stiffness of the ECM (durotaxis), the ECM's adhesivity (haptotaxis), and its presentation of growth factors (chemotaxis). Since these parameters are often lumped in naturally-derived materials, such as collagen and Matrigel, it is difficult to determine which of these cues (or which combination of cues) may be most important in regulating cell behavior in these systems. For that reason, many are now attempting to use synthetic biomaterials, which have the ability to independently tune these biochemical and biophysical properties, to study the affect of these cues on cell behavior.

Here, I will discuss a variety of biomaterial systems that maybe be used to study the effects of ECM adhesivity, stiffness, growth factor ability, porosity, and degradability in a systematically controlled environment. These systems can be adapted to study cell migration in a variety of tissue systems, though I will be discussing their utility mostly with primary smooth muscle cells and adult mesenchymal stem cells.