Characterization of the Role of Collagen Network Structure and Composition in Cancer Cell Migration

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Authors

ANGUIANO María CASTILLA Carlos MAŠKA Martin EDERRA Cristina FERNÁNDEZ-MARQUÉS Javier PELÁEZ Rafael ROUZAUT Ana MUNOZ-BARRUTIA Arrate KOZUBEK Michal ORTIZ-DE-SOLÓRZANO Carlos

Year of publication 2015
Type Article in Proceedings
Conference 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Informatics

Citation
Web http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/EMBC.2015.7320283
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/EMBC.2015.7320283
Field Informatics
Keywords collagen network geometry; confocal reflection microscopy; Matrigel; steerable filtering; pore size; cell migration
Description The geometry of 3D collagen networks is a key factor that influences the behavior of live cells within extracellular matrices. This paper presents a method for automatic quantification of the 3D collagen network geometry with fiber resolution in confocal reflection microscopy images. The proposed method is based on a smoothing filter and binarization of the collagen network followed by a fiber reconstruction algorithm. The method is validated on 3D collagen gels with various collagen and Matrigel concentrations. The results reveal that Matrigel affects the collagen network geometry by decreasing the network pore size while preserving the fiber length and fiber persistence length. The influence of network composition and geometry, especially pore size, is preliminarily analyzed by quantifying the migration patterns of lung cancer cells within microfluidic devices filled with three different hydrogel types. The experiments reveal that Matrigel, while decreasing pore size, stimulates cell migration. Further studies on this relationship could be instrumental for the study of cancer metastasis and other biological processes involving cell migration.
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