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In This Article

  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Protocol
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Disclosures
  • Acknowledgements
  • Materials
  • References
  • Reprints and Permissions

Summary

Here, we present a mechanics-based protocol to disrupt the gap junction connexin 43 and measure the subsequent impact this has on endothelial biomechanics via observation of tractions and intercellular stresses.

Abstract

Endothelial cells have been established to generate intercellular stresses and tractions, but the role gap junctions play in endothelial intercellular stress and traction generation is currently unknown. Therefore, we present here a mechanics-based protocol to probe the influence of gap junction connexin 43 (Cx43) has on endothelial biomechanics by exposing confluent endothelial monolayers to a known Cx43 inhibitor 2,5-dihydroxychalcone (chalcone) and measuring the impact this inhibitor has on tractions and intercellular stresses. We present representative results, which show a decrease in both tractions and intercellular stresses under a high chalcone dosage (2 µg/mL) when compared to control. This protocol can be applied to not just Cx43, but also other gap junctions as well, assuming the appropriate inhibitor is used. We believe this protocol will be useful in the fields of cardiovascular and mechanobiology research.

Introduction

The field that refers to the study of the effects of physical forces and of mechanical properties on cellular and tissue physiology and pathology is known as mechanobiology1. A few useful techniques that have been utilized in mechanobiology are monolayer stress microscopy and traction force microscopy. Traction force microscopy allows for the computation of tractions generated at the cell-substrate interface, while monolayer stress microscopy allows for the computation of intercellular stresses generated between adjacent cells within a monolayer2,3,4

Protocol

1. Making polyacrylamide (PA) gels

  1. Preparation of Petri dish
    1. Prepare bind silane solution by mixing 200 mL ultrapure water with 80 µL acetic acid and 50 µL of 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate. Bind silane is a solution used to functionalize the glass bottom Petri dish surface for hydrogel attachment.
    2. Stir the bind silane solution on a stir plate for at least 1 h.
    3. Treat the center well of the Petri dish with bind silane solution for 45 min.
    4. Remove bind silane solution and rinse the Petri dish with ultra-pure water 2x-3x.
    5. Dry the Petri dish surface and store at room temp....

Results

Phase contrast images of control, 0.2 µg/mL, and 2 µg/mL chalcone treated monolayers were taken 30 minutes before chalcone treatment (Figure 1A-C) and 2 hours after chalcone treatment (Figure 1D-F). Cell-induced bead displacements (µm) were observed to decrease in both low dose chalcone and high dose chalcone conditions (Figure 2E,F) w.......

Discussion

Our group, as well as others, has been successfully using TFM and MSM to probe the influence of cell-cell junctions in various pathological and physiological cellular processes in vitro7,15,18,27. For example, Hardin et al. presented a very insightful study that suggests intercellular stress transmission guides paracellular gap formation in endothelial cells15. While it .......

Disclosures

The authors have nothing to disclose.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the University of Central Florida start-up funds and the National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute of the National Institute of Health under award K25HL132098.

....

Materials

NameCompanyCatalog NumberComments
18 mm coverslipThermoFisher18CIR-1Essential to flatten polyacrylamide gels
2% bis-acrylamideBIO-RAD1610143Component of polyacrylamide gel
2′,5′-DihydroxychalconeSIGMAIDF00046To disrupt Cx43 structure
3-(Trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylateSIGMA2530-85-0Stock solution to make bind silane mixture with acetic acid and ultra-pure water
40% AcrylamideBIO-RAD1610140Component of polyacrylamide gel
Acetic acidFisher-Sceintific64-19-7Essential to make bind saline solution
Alexa Fluro 488 goat anti-mouse IgG;ThermoFisherCatalog # A-11001Secondary antibody
Ammonium persulfateBIO-RAD1610700Polyacrylamide gel polymerizing agent
Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA)SIGMA9048-46-8To make blocking solution
Bovine Type I Atelo-Collagen Solution, 3 mg/mL, 100 mLAdvance Biomatrix5005-100MLUse as a extracellular matrix
Corning Cell Culture Phosphate Buffered Saline (1x)Fisher-Sceintific21040CVBuffer Saline needed for cell culture
Dimethyl Sulfoxide, Fisher BioReagentsFisher-Sceintific67-68-5To dissolve chalcone and make stock solution
Fluoromount-G with DAPIThermoFisher00-4959-52Mounting medium for immunostaing used to stain for DAPI
Fluroscent microsphere Carboxylate-modified beadsThermoFisherF88120.5 micron carboxylate-modified beads (red), 2% solids
HEPES buffer solution 1 MSIGMA7365-45-9Essential to
LVESThermoFisherA1460801Essential HUEVC media 200 supplement
Medium 200ThermoFisherM200500Essential media for HUVEC cell culture
Mouse monoclonal Cx43 antibody (CX - 1B1)ThermoFisherCatalog #13-8300Primary antibody for Cx43
Petri dish (35 mm dia)CellVisD35-20-1.5H35 mm petri dish with a 20 mm center well
Sulfo-SANPAH Crosslinker 100 mgProteochem102568-43-4Essential to functionalize polyacrylamide gel surface
SYLGARD 184 Silicone Elastomer KitDOW corning2646340Silicon elastomer with curing agent to make PDMS
TEMEDBIO-RAD1610801Polyacrylamide gel polymerizing agent
Triton-X 100SIGMA9002-93-1To permeabilize cells
Trypsin -EDTAThermoFisher25300054Used to detach cells

References

  1. Mammoto, T., Mammoto, A., Ingber, D. E. Mechanobiology and developmental control. Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology. 29, 27-61 (2013).
  2. Schwarz, U. S., Soine, J. R. Traction force microscopy on soft elast....

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