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Applied Sciences
Special Issues
Modelling, Investigating and Engineering Viscoelasticity in Biological Tissues and Hydrogels
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Modelling, Investigating and Engineering Viscoelasticity in Biological Tissues and Hydrogels

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Applied Biosciences and Bioengineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 July 2023) | Viewed by 1303

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ludovica Cacopardo

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Guest Editor
Department of Information Engineering and Research Center ‘E. Piaggio’, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, PI, Italy
Interests: advanced in-vitro models; viscoelasticity; biomaterials; biofabrication; mechanotrandsuction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Antonella Mastrorocco

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biosciences, Biotechnologies & Biopharmaceutics, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70125 Bari, Italy
Interests: 3D in vitro maturation; millifluidic culture; oocytes and embryo bioenergetics; in vitro reproductive toxicology
Prof. Dr. David Mills

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Biological Sciences, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, LA 71272, USA
Interests: cancer biomaterials; bioengineering; implant design; surface modification; targeted drug delivery; tissue engineering; 3D printing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cell viscoelastic mechanotransduction is a fascinating research topic which has relevant implications in the understanding of pathophysiological processes and in the design of tissue substitute or in vitro models.

Although cell response to stiffness has been widely investigated, the interpretation of results as a function of substrate viscoelastic properties is still a challenge. This is likely related to the relationship between the different time scales involved (mechanical, cellular, and observation time scales) and to difficulties in decoupling mechanical properties from substrate biochemistry, topographical features, and mass transport.

In this context, the Special Issue ‘Modelling, Investigating and Engineering Viscoelasticity in Biological Tissues and Hydrogels’ is collecting research papers and review articles addressing these issues. In addition to mechanotransduction studies, submitted papers may focus on the investigation of viscoelastic properties of poorly characterised tissues or on the implementation of in silico models to predict material mechanical behaviour and/or cell response. The presentation of new strategies for the fabrication of biomimetic materials which may foster viscoelastic mechanotransduction studies are also welcome.

Dr. Ludovica Cacopardo
Dr. Antonella Mastrorocco
Prof. Dr. David Mills
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • viscoelasticity
  • mechanotransduction
  • hydrogels
  • biomaterials
  • biological tissues
  • viscoelastic testing
  • in silico models
  • in vitro models
  • tissue engineering
  • regenerative medicine
  • scaffolds
  • biofabrication

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 4884 KiB  
Article
A Methodological Approach for Interpreting and Comparing the Viscoelastic Behaviors of Soft Biological Tissues and Hydrogels at the Cell-Length Scale
by Marta Tosini, Torne Tänzer, Simona Villata, Désirée Baruffaldi, Valentina Monica, Barbara Peracino, Luca Primo, Francesca Frascella, Fabrizio Pirri, Alberto Audenino, Diana Massai and Gianpaolo Serino
Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(3), 1093; https://doi.org/10.3390/app14031093 - 27 Jan 2024
Viewed by 770
Abstract
The behavior of a cell is strongly influenced by the physical properties and stimuli in its microenvironment. Furthermore, the activation and modulation of mechanotransduction pathways are involved in tissue development and homeostasis and even pathological processes. Thus, when developing materials aimed at mimicking [...] Read more.
The behavior of a cell is strongly influenced by the physical properties and stimuli in its microenvironment. Furthermore, the activation and modulation of mechanotransduction pathways are involved in tissue development and homeostasis and even pathological processes. Thus, when developing materials aimed at mimicking the extracellular matrixes of healthy or pathological tissues, their mechanical features should be closely considered. In this context, nanoindentation represents a powerful technique for mechanically characterizing biological tissues and hydrogels at the cell-length scale. However, standardized experimental protocols and data analysis techniques are lacking. Here, we proposed a methodological approach based on the nanoindentation technique for quantitatively analyzing and comparing the time-dependent load relaxation responses of soft biological tissues and hydrogels. As this was an explanatory study, stress-relaxation nanoindentation tests were performed on samples of pig and human lung tissues and of a specific gelatin-methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogel to quantify and compare their viscoelastic properties. The proposed method allowed for identifying the characteristic parameters needed for describing the behavior of each sample, permitting us to quantitatively compare their mechanical behaviors. All samples showed load relaxation at a defined indentation depth because of their intrinsic viscoelastic behaviors, and the GelMA samples showed the highest relaxation capabilities. The distribution of the characterization parameters showed that the biological samples presented similar time-dependent responses, while differences were observed in the GelMA samples. Overall, the proposed methodological approach allows for providing key insights into the time-dependent behaviors of soft biological tissues and hydrogels at the cell-length scale in view of supporting tissue engineering and pathophysiological investigations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modelling, Investigating and Engineering Viscoelasticity in Biological Tissues and Hydrogels)
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