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Shao X, Sørensen MH, Fang C, Chang RCC, Chu Z, Lin Y. Maturation of Neural Cells Leads to Enhanced Axon-Extracellular Matrix Adhesion and Altered Injury Response. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2021; 8:621777. [PMID: 33490057 PMCID: PMC7815929 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2020.621777] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2020] [Accepted: 12/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Although it is known that stronger cell-extracellular matrix interactions will be developed as neurons mature, how such change influences their response against traumatic injury remains largely unknown. In this report, by transecting axons with a sharp atomic force microscope tip, we showed that the injury-induced retracting motion of axon can be temporarily arrested by tight NCAM (neural cell adhesion molecule) mediated adhesion patches, leading to a retraction curve decorated with sudden bursts. Interestingly, although the size of adhesion clusters (~0.5–1 μm) was found to be more or less the same in mature and immature neurons (after 7- and 3-days of culturing, respectively), the areal density of such clusters is three times higher in mature axons resulting in a much reduced retraction in response to injury. A physical model was also adopted to explain the observed retraction trajectories which suggested that apparent adhesion energy between axon and the substrate increases from ~0.12 to 0.39 mJ/m2 as neural cell matures, in good agreement with our experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xueying Shao
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.,HKU-Shenzhen Institute of Research and Innovation, Shenzhen, China.,Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Joint Appointment With School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Maja Højvang Sørensen
- Laboratory of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Li Ka Shing (LKS) Faculty of Medicine, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Chao Fang
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.,HKU-Shenzhen Institute of Research and Innovation, Shenzhen, China
| | - Raymond Chuen Chung Chang
- Laboratory of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Li Ka Shing (LKS) Faculty of Medicine, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Zhiqin Chu
- Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Joint Appointment With School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Yuan Lin
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.,HKU-Shenzhen Institute of Research and Innovation, Shenzhen, China
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