TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wolff, Martin
A1  - Gast, Klaus
A1  - Evers, Andreas
A1  - Kurz, Michael
A1  - Pfeiffer-Marek, Stefania
A1  - Schüler, Anja
A1  - Seckler, Robert
A1  - Thalhammer, Anja
T1  - A Conserved Hydrophobic Moiety and Helix-Helix Interactions Drive the Self-Assembly of the Incretin Analog Exendin-4
JF  - Biomolecules
N2  - Exendin-4 is a pharmaceutical peptide used in the control of insulin secretion. Structural information on exendin-4 and related peptides especially on the level of quaternary structure is scarce. We present the first published association equilibria of exendin-4 directly measured by static and dynamic light scattering. We show that exendin-4 oligomerization is pH dependent and that these oligomers are of low compactness. We relate our experimental results to a structural hypothesis to describe molecular details of exendin-4 oligomers. Discussion of the validity of this hypothesis is based on NMR, circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy, and light scattering data on exendin-4 and a set of exendin-4 derived peptides. The essential forces driving oligomerization of exendin-4 are helix–helix interactions and interactions of a conserved hydrophobic moiety. Our structural hypothesis suggests that key interactions of exendin-4 monomers in the experimentally supported trimer take place between a defined helical segment and a hydrophobic triangle constituted by the Phe22 residues of the three monomeric subunits. Our data rationalize that Val19 might function as an anchor in the N-terminus of the interacting helix-region and that Trp25 is partially shielded in the oligomer by C-terminal amino acids of the same monomer. Our structural hypothesis suggests that the Trp25 residues do not interact with each other, but with C-terminal Pro residues of their own monomers.
KW  - biophysics
KW  - diabetes
KW  - peptides
KW  - oligomerization
KW  - conformational change
KW  - molecular modeling
KW  - static and dynamic light scattering
KW  - spectroscopy
Y1  - 2021
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3390/biom11091305
SN  - 2218-273X
VL  - 11
IS  - 9
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  - 
TY  - THES
A1  - Landau, Livnat
T1  - Mechanical stimulation of in-vitro tissue growth using magnetic beads
N2  - Cells and tissues are sensitive to mechanical forces applied to them. In particular, bone forming cells and connective tissues, composed of cells embedded in fibrous extracellular matrix (ECM), are continuously remodeled in response to the loads they bear. The mechanoresponses of cells embedded in tissue include proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, internal signaling between cells, and formation and resorption of tissue.
Experimental in-vitro systems of various designs have demonstrated that forces affect tissue growth, maturation and mineralization. However, the results depended on different parameters such as the type and magnitude of the force applied in each study. Some experiments demonstrated that applied forces increase cell proliferation and inhibit cell maturation rate, while other studies found the opposite effect. When the effect of different magnitudes of forces was compared, some studies showed that higher forces resulted in a cell proliferation increase or differentiation decrease, while other studies observed the opposite trend or no trend at all.
In this study, MC3T3-E1 cells, a cell line of pre-osteoblasts (bone forming cells), was used. In this cell line, cell differentiation is known to accelerate after cells stop proliferating, typically at confluency. This makes this cell line an interesting subject for studying the influence of forces on the switch between the proliferation stage of the precursor cell and the differentiation to the mature osteoblasts.
A new experimental system was designed to perform systematic investigations of the influence of the type and magnitude of forces on tissue growth. A single well plate contained an array of 80 rectangular pores. Each pore was seeded with MC3T3-E1 cells. The culture medium contained magnetic beads (MBs) of 4.5 μm in diameter that were incorporated into the pre-osteoblast cells. Using an N52 neodymium magnet, forces ranging over three orders of magnitude were applied to MBs incorporated in cells at 10 different distances from the magnet. The amount of formed tissue was assessed after 24 days of culture. The experimental design allowed to obtain data concerning (i) the influence of the type of the force (static, oscillating, no force) on tissue growth; (ii) the influence of the magnitude of force (pN-nN range); (iii) the effect of functionalizing the magnetic beads with the tripeptide Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD). To learn about cell differentiation state, in the final state of the tissue growth experiments, an analysis for the expression of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), a well - known marker of osteoblast differentiation, was performed.
The experiments showed that the application of static magnetic forces increased tissue growth compared to control, while oscillating forces resulted in tissue growth reduction. A statistically significant positive correlation was found between the amount of tissue grown and the magnitude of the oscillating magnetic force. A positive but non-significant correlation of the amount of tissue with the magnitude of forces was obtained when static forces were applied. Functionalizing the MBs with RGD peptides and applying oscillating forces resulted in an increase of tissue growth relative to tissues incubated with “plain” epoxy MBs. ALP expression decreased as a function of the magnitude of force both when static and oscillating forces were applied. ALP stain intensity was reduced relative to control when oscillating forces were applied and was not significantly different than control for static forces.
The suggested interpretation of the experimental findings is that larger mechanical forces delay cell maturation and keep the pre-osteoblasts in a more proliferative stage characterized by more tissue formed and lower expression of ALP. While the influence of the force magnitude can be well explained by an effect of the force on the switch between proliferation and differentiation, the influence of force type (static or oscillating) is less clear. In particular, it is challenging to reconcile the reduction of tissue formed under oscillating forces as compared to controls with the simultaneous reduction of ALP expression. To better understand this, it may be necessary to refine the staining protocol of the scaffolds and to include the amount and structure of ECM as well as other factors that were not monitored in the experiment and which may influence tissue growth and maturation.
The developed experimental system proved well suited for a systematic and efficient study of the mechanoresponsiveness of tissue growth, it allowed a study of the dependence of tissue growth on force magnitude ranging over three orders of magnitude, and a comparison between the effect of static and oscillating forces. Future experiments can explore the multiple parameters that affect tissue growth as a function of the magnitude of the force: by applying different time-dependent forces; by extending the force range studied; or by using different cell lines and manipulating the mechanotransduction in the cells biochemically.
KW  - mechanobiology
KW  - magnetism
KW  - biophysics
KW  - tissue growth
KW  - magnetic beads
Y1  - 2020
ER  - 
TY  - THES
A1  - Ehrig, Sebastian
T1  - 3D curvature and its role on tissue organization
N2  - Shape change is a fundamental process occurring in biological tissues during embryonic development and regeneration of tissues and organs. This process is regulated by cells that are constrained within a complex environment of biochemical and physical cues. The spatial constraint due to geometry has a determining role on tissue mechanics and the spatial distribution of force patterns that, in turn, influences the organization of the tissue structure. An understanding of the underlying principles of tissue organization may have wide consequences for the understanding of healing processes and the development of organs and, as such, is of fundamental interest for the tissue engineering community.
This thesis aims to further our understanding of how the collective behaviour of cells is influenced by the 3D geometry of the environment. Previous research studying the role of geometry on tissue growth has mainly focused either on flat surfaces or on substrates where at least one of the principal curvatures is zero. In the present work, tissue growth from MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblasts was investigated on surfaces of controlled mean curvature. 
One key aspect of this thesis was the development of substrates of controlled mean curvature and their visualization in 3D. It was demonstrated that substrates of controlled mean curvature suitable for cell culture can be fabricated using liquid polymers and surface tension effects.
Using these substrates, it was shown that the mean surface curvature has a strong impact on the rate of tissue growth and on the organization of the tissue structure. It was thereby not only demonstrated that the amount of tissue produced (i.e. growth rates) by the cells depends on the mean curvature of the substrate but also that the tissue surface behaves like a viscous fluid with an equilibrium shape governed by the Laplace-Young-law. It was observed that more tissue was formed on highly concave surfaces compared to flat or convex surfaces.
Motivated by these observations, an analytical model was developed, where the rate of tissue growth is a function of the mean curvature, which could successfully describe the growth kinetics. This model was also able to reproduce the growth kinetics of previous experiments where tissues have been cultured in straight-sided prismatic pores.
A second part of this thesis focuses on the tissue structure, which influences the mechanical properties of the mature bone tissue. Since the extracellular matrix is produced by the cells, the cell orientation has a strong impact on the direction of the tissue fibres. In addition, it was recently shown that some cell types exhibit collective alignment similar to liquid crystals. 
Based on this observation, a computational model of self-propelled active particles was developed to explore in an abstract manner how the collective behaviour of cells is influenced by 3D curvature. It was demonstrated that the 3D curvature has a strong impact on the self-organization of active particles and gives, therefore, first insights into the principles of self-organization of cells on curved surfaces.
N2  - Formänderung ist ein fundamentaler Vorgang während der embryonalen Entwicklung und der Regeneration von Geweben und Organen. Dieser Prozess wird von Zellen reguliert die in einer komplexen Umgebung von biochemischen und physikalischen Signalen eingebettet sind. Die räumliche Begrenzung der Zellen führt dabei zu Unterschieden in der Gewebemechanik und der räumlichen Verteilung von Kräften und hat damit einen Einfluss auf die Organisation der Gewebestruktur. Ein Verständnis der Organisationsprozesse von Geweben hat weitreichende Konsequenzen im Hinblick auf das Verständnis von Heilungsprozessen und der Entwicklung von Organen bis hin zu medizinischen Anwendungen wie der Entwicklung von Implantaten.
Die vorliegende Arbeit zielt auf ein besseres Verständnis wie das kollektive Verhalten von Gewebezellen von der dreidimensionalen Krümmung der Umgebung beeinflusst wird. Die bisherige Forschung war bislang limitiert auf flache Oberflächen oder auf Substrate in denen zumindest eine der beiden Hauptkrümmungen Null ist. In dieser Arbeit wurde daher das Gewebewachstum von MC3T3-E1 Pre-Osteoblasten auf Oberflächen mit konstanter mittlerer Krümmung studiert.
Ein wichtiger Teil der Arbeit war die Entwicklung von Substraten mit kontrollierter mittlerer Krümmung und deren Visualisierung in 3D. Es wurde gezeigt, dass sich die Oberflächen- spannung von Polymerlösungen nutzen lässt um eben solche Substrate zu erzeugen. 
Mit Hilfe dieser Substrate wurde gezeigt, dass die mittlere Krümmung der Oberfläche einen entscheidenden Einfluss auf die Wachstumsrate und die Organisation der Gewebestruktur hat. Es konnte nicht nur gezeigt werden dass die Menge an gebildetem Gewebe von der mittleren Krümmung abhängig ist, sondern auch dass die Oberfläche des Gewebes sich dabei wie eine Flüssigkeit verhält und dem Laplace-Young Gesetz folgt. Es wurde beobachtet dass sich mehr Gewebe auf konkaven als auf flachen oder konvexen Oberflächen gebildet hat.
Basierend auf diesen Beobachtungen wurde ein analytisches Modell entwickelt, welches die Wachstumsrate als Funktion der mittleren Krümmung beschreibt und mit Hilfe dessen sich das Gewebewachstum erfolgreich beschreiben lässt. Dieses Modell kann auch die Ergebnisse früherer Arbeiten reproduzieren, in denen Gewebe in prismatischen Poren kultiviert wurden.
Ein weiterer Teil der Arbeit befasste sich mit der Struktur des Gewebes, welche einen Einfluss auf die späteren mechanischen Eigenschaften des maturierten Knochengewebes hat. Da die extrazelluläre Matrix des Gewebes von den Zellen gebildet wird, hat die Orientierung der Zellen einen entscheidenden Einfluss auf die Ausrichtung der Gewebefasern. Außerdem wurde vor kurzem gezeigt, dass sich manche Zellen wie Flüssigkristalle anordnen können. 
Basierend auf dieser Beobachtung wurde ein Computermodell aktiver Partikel entwickelt, mit dessen Hilfe sich der Einfluss des kollektiven Verhaltens der Zellen auf dreidimensional gekrümmten Oberflächen abstrahieren lässt. Es konnte dabei gezeigt werden, dass die dreidimensionale Krümmung einen entscheidenden Einfluss auf die Selbstorganisation dieser Partikel hat und gibt damit erste Einblicke in ein mögliches Organisationsverhalten von Zellen auf 3D Oberflächen.
KW  - biophysics
KW  - tissue engineering
KW  - mechanobiology
Y1  - 2017
ER  -