Collagen Fibrils Mechanically Contribute to Tissue Contraction in an In Vitro Wound Healing Scenario

Abstract

Wound contraction is an ancient survival mechanism of vertebrates that results from tensile forces supporting wound closure. So far, tissue tension was attributed to cellular forces produced by tissue‐resident (myo‐)fibroblasts alone. However, difficulties in explaining pathological deviations from a successful healing path motivate the exploration of additional modulatory factors. Here, it is shown in a biomaterial‐based in vitro wound healing model that the storage of tensile forces in the extracellular matrix has a significant, so‐far neglected contribution to macroscopic tissue tension. In situ monitoring of tissue forces together with second harmonic imaging reveal that the appearance of collagen fibrils correlates with tissue contraction, indicating a mechanical contribution of tensioned collagen fibrils in the contraction process. As the re‐establishment of tissue tension is key to successful wound healing, the findings are expected to advance the understanding of tissue healing but also underlying principles of misregulation and impaired functionality in scars and tissue contractures.

Load‐induced osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stromal cells is caused by mechano‐regulated autocrine signaling

“…After 24 hr of incubation, the scaffolds were transferred into the bioreactor. As shown previously, uniform distribution of cells within the scaffold was achieved using this seeding method (Brauer et al, ).…”

“…Collagen crosslinking during production protects the scaffolds from fast enzymatic degradation. Both, collagen crosslinking and its elastic deformation behavior allowed repetitive compression without major shape‐changes even over long periods of time (Brauer et al, ; Petersen et al, ). By changing the solid content, the wall stiffness was tuned without affecting the pore architecture (Figure a).…”

Current Insight of Collagen Biomatrix for Gingival Recession: An Evidence-Based Systematic Review

“…In addition, Antoine et al reported that, under neutral pH, Col fibril will assemble on its own [ 86 ], which contributes to the tissue repair mechanism and morphogenesis process [ 87 ]. This is essential as the fibril contributes to the tissue contraction that affects the wound closure at the injury site [ 88 ].…”

Engineering Biomaterials and Approaches for Mechanical Stretching of Cells in Three Dimensions

“…Such fibrous structures have been found to dramatically contribute to control ECM mechanical properties such as strain-stiffening and viscoelasticity ( Prince and Kumacheva, 2019 ; van Oosten et al, 2019 ). Cells can sense fiber features (e.g., diameter, length, density and direction), actively remodel the fibrous networks via cell contraction, and respond by adjusting their contractility, migration, alignment and growth ( Holmes et al, 2018 ; Brauer et al, 2019 ; Wang W. Y. et al, 2019 ). Moreover, recent studies have identified a particular important role of the fibrous networks in long-distance cell-cell communications and collective behaviors ( Han et al, 2018 ; Sarker et al, 2019 ; Liu et al, 2020 ).…”