The mechanical properties of amniotic membrane influence its effect as a biomaterial for ocular surface repair

Chen, B., Jones, R. R., Mi, S., Foster, J., Alcock, S., Hamley, I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4549-0926 and Connon, C. (2012) The mechanical properties of amniotic membrane influence its effect as a biomaterial for ocular surface repair. Soft Matter, 8 (32). pp. 8379-8387. ISSN 1744-683X doi: 10.1039/C2SM26175H

Abstract/Summary

The human amniotic membrane (AM) is a tissue of fetal origin and has proven to be clinically useful as a biomaterial in the management of various ocular surface disorders including corneal stem cell transplantation. However, its success rate displays a degree of clinical unpredictability. We suggest that the measured variability inAMstiffness offers an explanation for the poor clinical reproducibility when it is used as a substrate for stem cell expansion and transplantation. Corneal epithelial stem cells were expanded upon AM samples possessing different mechanical stiffness. To investigate further the importance of biological substrate stiffness on cell phenotype we replaced AM with type I collagen gels of known stiffness. Substrate stiffness was measured using shear rheometry and surface topography was characterized using scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The differentiation status of epithelial cells was examined using RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. The level of corneal stem cell differentiation was increased in cells expanded upon AM with a high dynamic elastic shear modulus and cell expansion on type I collagen gels confirmed that the level of corneal epithelial stem cell differentiation was related to the substrate’s mechanical properties. In this paper we provide evidence to show that the preparatory method of AM for clinical use can affect its mechanical properties and that these measured differences can influence the level of differentiation within expanded corneal epithelial stem cells.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/28777
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary centres and themes > Nanoscience and Materials Life Sciences > School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy > Department of Chemistry Interdisciplinary centres and themes > Chemical Analysis Facility (CAF) > Electron Microscopy Laboratory (CAF) Life Sciences > School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy > School of Pharmacy > Division of Pharmacology
Publisher	Royal Society of Chemistry
Download/View statistics	View download statistics for this item