Print Email Facebook Twitter Emergent collective organization of bone cells in complex curvature fields Title Emergent collective organization of bone cells in complex curvature fields Author Callens, S.J.P. (TU Delft Biomaterials & Tissue Biomechanics; Imperial College London) Fan, D. (TU Delft Team Carlas Smith) van Hengel, I.A.J. (TU Delft Biomaterials & Tissue Biomechanics) Minneboo, M.B. (TU Delft Biomaterials & Tissue Biomechanics) Diaz Payno, P.J. (TU Delft Biomaterials & Tissue Biomechanics; Erasmus MC) Stevens, Molly M. (Imperial College London) Fratila-Apachitei, E.L. (TU Delft Biomaterials & Tissue Biomechanics) Zadpoor, A.A. (TU Delft Biomaterials & Tissue Biomechanics) Date 2023 Abstract Individual cells and multicellular systems respond to cell-scale curvatures in their environments, guiding migration, orientation, and tissue formation. However, it remains largely unclear how cells collectively explore and pattern complex landscapes with curvature gradients across the Euclidean and non-Euclidean spectra. Here, we show that mathematically designed substrates with controlled curvature variations induce multicellular spatiotemporal organization of preosteoblasts. We quantify curvature-induced patterning and find that cells generally prefer regions with at least one negative principal curvature. However, we also show that the developing tissue can eventually cover unfavorably curved territories, can bridge large portions of the substrates, and is often characterized by collectively aligned stress fibers. We demonstrate that this is partly regulated by cellular contractility and extracellular matrix development, underscoring the mechanical nature of curvature guidance. Our findings offer a geometric perspective on cell-environment interactions that could be harnessed in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications. Subject OA-Fund TU Delft To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:8588b022-2f02-4b02-a6c8-c468474bcdcb DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36436-w ISSN 2041-1723 Source Nature Communications, 14 (1) Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2023 S.J.P. Callens, D. Fan, I.A.J. van Hengel, M.B. Minneboo, P.J. Diaz Payno, Molly M. Stevens, E.L. Fratila-Apachitei, A.A. Zadpoor Files PDF s41467_023_36436_w.pdf 13.39 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:8588b022-2f02-4b02-a6c8-c468474bcdcb/datastream/OBJ/view