Evaluating the Role of Fetal Decm on Macrophage Polarization in 2D | AIChE

Evaluating the Role of Fetal Decm on Macrophage Polarization in 2D

Authors 

Hamric, C. L. - Presenter, University of Florida
Jameson, J. F., University of Florida
Stoppel, W., University of Florida
Biomaterials are increasingly used in the clinical to surgically repair traumatic injuries or congenital defects. It has been established that biomaterial composition plays an important role in the immune system’s response and the resulting success of biomaterial-based surgical repair (1). Thus, as we build new biomaterials, we must evaluate these interactions to determine the biomaterial effectiveness and evaluate side effects to ultimately improve current surgical materials. Monocytes in the blood polarize towards macrophages upon injury, causing them to exit the blood stream and enter the injured tissue. Two generalized categories of macrophages exist for in vitro studies: M1, pro-inflammatory and M2, anti-inflammatory. Both macrophages are needed for healthy immune response, but long-term exposure to M1 macrophages can increase scar tissue production and other negative results at the injury site that impede functional repair. Decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) has been shown to polarize macrophages depending on the dECM’s origin, composition, and the methods used to produce the dECM. In this work, we hypothesize that fetal dECM will promote M2 polarization and yield less collagen deposition by native fibroblasts compared to dECM isolated from adult tissue. Fetal dECM is shown to have a lot of plasticity during development and regeneration which is why it is hypothesized to promote an M2 response in vitro. Different ages of fetal dECM isolated from porcine tissue was introduced to monocytes in 2D tissue culture to investigate the polarization response. Using fluorescent microscopy, we quantified M0 macrophages (phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA)-treated monocytes) expression to determine if the composition of the dECM alone can shift polarization compared to tissue culture plastic or rat tail collagen I. Results will inform our efforts in making 3D biomaterial scaffolds for skeletal muscle regeneration applications.

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