Affiliations: Laboratoire de Spectrométrie Physique, CNRS-Université Grenoble I, France | INSERM, U823, Grenoble, France | Université Joseph Fourier-Grenoble I, Faculté de Médecine, Institut d'oncologie/développement, Albert Bonniot et Institut Français du Sang, UMR-S823, Grenoble, France
Note: [] On leave from Horia Hulubei National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering (IFIN-HH), 407 Atomistilor, Magurele, 077125 Bucharest, Romania.
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Dr. Claude Verdier, Laboratoire de Spectrométrie Physique, CNRS-Université Grenoble I (UMR 5588), 140 Avenue de la Physique, BP 87, 38402 Saint-Martin d'Hères cedex, France. Tel.: +33 4 76 63 59 80; Fax: +33 4 76 63 54 95; E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract: Collagen model tissues, consisting of cells embedded in a collagen matrix at different concentrations (of cells and collagen) were analyzed. Rheological properties were measured and complementary confocal microscopy analysis carried out. An important feature, corresponding to the breakdown of the collagen network (i.e., decrease in network elasticity) was observed at high collagen concentrations, due to the presence of cells. Thanks to confocal microscopy, we showed that cells elongated within the gel and could remodel it, this being a concentration-dependent feature. A careful analysis of the remodeling process showed that cells can attract collagen in their close neighborhood, this being an irreversible process and that migrating cells create collagen-depleted regions behind them.
