Cell biology articles within Polymer Journal

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• Original Article | 15 July 2021

  Fabrication and evaluation of durable, optically clear, and self-disinfecting films

  A transparent film with photoactive antiviral functions and minimal degradation over time was easily obtained by uniformly dispersing the phenoxy-substituted phthalocyanine zinc (PPcZn) in the cellulose acetate film. This film produced singlet oxygen (¹O₂) upon visible light irradiation, and the production capacity of ¹O₂ was maintained even when the film was exposed to indoor lighting for 6 months.

  • Nobuyuki Harada
  • , Kiyoshi Masuda
  •  & Hiroshi Uyama

• Original Article | 22 April 2020

  Fluidic substrate as a tool to probe breast cancer cell adaptive behavior in response to fluidity level

  A fluidic substrate behaving as a hydrophobic viscoelastic liquid was designed as a tool to investigate the role of matrix viscosity on the alteration of breast cancer cellular fate. The fluidity level of fluidic substrate was tuned by modulating the molecular weight of poly(ε-caprolactone-co-D,L-lactide). MCF-7 cells responded to the change in fluidity level of fluidic substrates by forming weak attachment. On high-fluidity substrate, MCF-7 cells formed 3D aggregates, while coalesced on low-fluidity substrate. More importantly, the fluidic substrate mechanically promoted senescence of MCF-7 cells regardless the fluidity level of substrate.

  • Mazaya Najmina
  • , Koichiro Uto
  •  & Mitsuhiro Ebara

• Original Article | 02 September 2015

  Silk 3D matrices incorporating human neural progenitor cells for neural tissue engineering applications

  Propagation of neural progenitor cells on silk-based macroporous scaffolds. The potential for macroporous 3D silk fibroin scaffolds for the propagation of human neural progenitor cells is investigated. It is found that microstructure and porosity of the fabricated silk fibroin scaffolds allow for sustained viability and proliferation of human neural progenitors. We also find that although fibroin scaffolds from mulberry and non-mulberry silks are cytocompatible, non-mulberry silk matrices appeared to promote slightly increased cell proliferation and matrix deposition.

  • Bano Subia
  • , Raj R Rao
  •  & Subhas C Kundu

• Original Article | 18 December 2013

  Formation of ring-shaped microtubule assemblies through active self-organization on dynein

  Rotating ring-shaped microtubule assemblies were successfully formed on dynein-coated surface through active self-organization process in a similar way to kinesin. However, no preferential direction of rotation was observed in contrast to the aforementioned results of previous kinesin studies. This indicates that dynein is less sensitive to the experimental condition than kinesin.

  • Masaki Ito
  • , Arif Md. Rashedul Kabir
  •  & Akira Kakugo