TY  - JOUR
A1  - Doryab, Ali
A1  - Taskin, Mehmet Berat
A1  - Stahlhut, Philipp
A1  - Schröppel, Andreas
A1  - Wagner, Darcy E.
A1  - Groll, Jürgen
A1  - Schmid, Otmar
T1  - A Biomimetic, Copolymeric Membrane for Cell‐Stretch Experiments with Pulmonary Epithelial Cells at the Air‐Liquid Interface
JF  - Advanced Functional Materials
N2  - Chronic respiratory diseases are among the leading causes of death worldwide, but only symptomatic therapies are available for terminal illness. This in part reflects a lack of biomimetic in vitro models that can imitate the complex environment and physiology of the lung. Here, a copolymeric membrane consisting of poly(ε‐)caprolactone and gelatin with tunable properties, resembling the main characteristics of the alveolar basement membrane is introduced. The thin bioinspired membrane (≤5 μm) is stretchable (up to 25% linear strain) with appropriate surface wettability and porosity for culturing lung epithelial cells under air–liquid interface conditions. The unique biphasic concept of this membrane provides optimum characteristics for initial cell growth (phase I) and then switch to biomimetic properties for cyclic cell‐stretch experiments (phase II). It is showed that physiologic cyclic mechanical stretch improves formation of F‐actin cytoskeleton filaments and tight junctions while non‐physiologic over‐stretch induces cell apoptosis, activates inflammatory response (IL‐8), and impairs epithelial barrier integrity. It is also demonstrated that cyclic physiologic stretch can enhance the cellular uptake of nanoparticles. Since this membrane offers considerable advantages over currently used membranes, it may lead the way to more biomimetic in vitro models of the lung for translation of in vitro response studies into clinical outcome.
KW  - alveolar‐capillary barrier
KW  - cyclic mechanical stretch
KW  - hybrid polymers
KW  - in vitro cell‐stretch model
KW  - tunable ultra‐thin biphasic membrane
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-225645
VL  - 31
IS  - 10
ER  -