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New York University physicists have developed a method that modelsbiological cell-to-cell adhesion that could also have industrialapplications. This system, created in the laboratory of Jasna Brujic, anassistant professor in NYU's Department of Physics and part of itsCenter for Soft Matter Research, is an oil-in-water solution whosesurface properties reproduce those found on biological cells. Specifically, adhesion between compressed oil droplets mimics themechanical properties of tissues and opens the path to numerouspractical applications, ranging from biocompatible cosmetics toartificial tissue engineering. Their method is described in the journal the Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences. Previously, Brujic's laboratory has determined how spheres pack anddevised methods for manipulating the packing process. In this PNASstudy, Brujic and her research team sought to create a method thatwould address the role of packing in tissues from the point of viewof how mechanical forces affect protein-protein adhesion betweencells. In biology, cell-to-cell adhesion is crucial to the integrity oftissue structure-cells must come together and stick in order toensure tissue cohesion. However, the daunting complexity ofbiological systems has long prevented their description usinggeneral theoretical concepts taken from the physical sciences. For this reason, the research team designed an original biomimeticsolution, or emulsion, that reproduces the main features ofcell-to-cell adhesion in tissues. Emulsions form the basis for a range of consumer products,including butter, ice cream, and milk. In addition, the emulsion inthe PNAS study is tuned to match the attractive and repulsiveinteractions that govern adhesion between cells. The experimentalconditions reveal the circumstances under which pushing forces arenecessary to create adhesion. By varying the amount of force by which the droplets of oil werecompressed by centrifugation and the amount of salt added to thissolution, the NYU team was able to isolate the optimal conditionsfor cell-to-cell adhesion. Screening electrostatic charges by the addition of salt andcompressing the droplets by force enhances protein-proteininteractions on the droplet surfaces. This leads to adhesionbetween contacting droplets covering all the interfaces, just as inthe case of biological tissues. Their results, which matched the researchers' theoretical modelingof the process, offer a method for manipulating force and pressurein order to bind emulsions. This serves as a starting point for enriching a range of consumerproducts, by reconfiguring their molecular make-up to enhanceconsistency and function, and for improving pharmaceuticals, bybolstering the delivery of therapeutic molecules to the bloodstream. The study's other authors were Lea-Laetitia Pontani, a postdoctoralresearch scientist, and Ivane Jorjadze, a graduate student, bothfrom NYU's Department of Physics and the Center for Soft MatterResearch, as well as Virgile Viasnoff, an Associate Professor atthe National University of Singapore and the French researchinstitute, CNRS/ESPCI. I am an expert from chinamachinemanufacturer.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Heat Treatment Furnaces , Impact Extrusion Machine, Wire and Cable Machinery,and more.
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