Directed invasion of cancer cell spheroids inside 3D collagen matrices oriented by microfluidic flow in experiment and simulation

Invasion is strongly influenced by the mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix. Here, we use microfluidics to align fibers of a collagen matrix and study the influence of fiber orientation on invasion from a cancer cell spheroid. The microfluidic setup allows for highly oriented collagen f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2022-03, Vol.17 (3), p.e0264571-e0264571
Main Authors: Geiger, Florian, Schnitzler, Lukas G, Brugger, Manuel S, Westerhausen, Christoph, Engelke, Hanna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biology and Life Sciences
Blockage
Cancer
Cancer cells
Cancer invasiveness
Cell adhesion & migration
Cell migration
Cell research
Collagen
Diffusion barriers
Diffusion models
Engineering and Technology
Experiments
Extracellular matrix
Fiber orientation
Fibers
Invasiveness
Mechanical properties
Microfluidics
Molecules
Phase transitions
Physical Sciences
Physics
Polymerization
Research and analysis methods
Simulation
Spheroids
Structure
Velocity
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Summary:Invasion is strongly influenced by the mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix. Here, we use microfluidics to align fibers of a collagen matrix and study the influence of fiber orientation on invasion from a cancer cell spheroid. The microfluidic setup allows for highly oriented collagen fibers of tangential and radial orientation with respect to the spheroid, which can be described by finite element simulations. In invasion experiments, we observe a strong bias of invasion towards radial as compared to tangential fiber orientation. Simulations of the invasive behavior with a Brownian diffusion model suggest complete blockage of migration perpendicularly to fibers allowing for migration exclusively along fibers. This slows invasion toward areas with tangentially oriented fibers down, but does not prevent it.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0264571