Stretched Mesenchymal Stem Cells (IMAGE)

University of California - Berkeley

Stretched Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Caption

The cytoskeleton of mesenchymal stem cells shows the orientation of stem cells on micropatterned membranes. On unpatterned membranes, stem cells naturally orient randomly, but realign perpendicularly to the axis of stretch when repeatedly stretched. However, on membranes with micropatterned grooves, stem cells align with the grooves and remain aligned even when stretched. Note: direction of stretch is left to right, and the orientation of microgrooves is left to right.

Credit

Image courtesy of Kyle Kurpinski, UC Berkeley

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