Issue 14, 2014

Rapid fibroblast activation in mammalian cells induced by silicon nanowire arrays

Abstract

Activated tumor-associated fibroblasts (TAFs) with abundant fibroblast activation protein (FAP) expression attract tremendous attention in tumor progression studies. In this work, we report a rapid 24 h FAP activation method for fibroblasts using silicon nanowires (SiNWs) as culture substrates instead of growth factors or chemokines. In contrast with cells cultured on flat silicon which rarely express FAP, SiNW cultivated cells exhibit FAP levels similar to those found in cancerous tissue. We demonstrated that activated cells grown on SiNWs maintain their viability and proliferation in a time-dependent manner. Moreover, environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) and focused ion beam and scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) analysis clearly revealed that activated cells on SiNWs adapt to the structure of their substrates by filling inter-wire cavities via filopodia in contrast to cells cultured on flat silicon which spread freely. We further illustrated that the expression of FAP was rarely detected in activated cells after being re-cultured in Petri dishes, suggesting that the unique structure of SiNWs may have a certain influence on FAP activation.

Graphical abstract: Rapid fibroblast activation in mammalian cells induced by silicon nanowire arrays

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 Mar 2014
Accepted
03 May 2014
First published
06 May 2014

Nanoscale, 2014,6, 8318-8325

Rapid fibroblast activation in mammalian cells induced by silicon nanowire arrays

Q. Ha, G. Yang, Z. Ao, D. Han, F. Niu and S. Wang, Nanoscale, 2014, 6, 8318 DOI: 10.1039/C4NR01415D

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements