Mammalian cells respond to tactile cues from topographic elements presented by the substrate. Among these, anisotropic features distributed in an ordered manner give directionality. In the extracellular matrix, this ordering is embedded in a noisy environment altering the contact guidance effect.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFControl of the properties of nanoparticles (NPs), including size, is critical for their application in biomedicine and engineering. Polymeric NPs are commonly produced by nanoprecipitation, where a solvent containing a block copolymer is mixed rapidly with a nonsolvent, such as water. Empirical evidence suggests that the choice of solvent influences NP size; yet, the specific mechanism remains unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRetinal cells within neurovascular units generate the blood-retinal barrier (BRB) to regulate the local retinal microenvironment and to limit access to inflammatory cells. Breakdown of the endothelial junctional complexes in the BRB negatively affects neuronal signaling and ultimately causes vision loss. As new therapeutics are being developed either to prevent barrier disruption or to restore barrier function, access to physiologically relevant human in vitro tissue models that recapitulate important features of barrier biology is essential for disease modeling, target validation, and toxicity assessment.
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