Silicone rubber hardness regulates fibroblasts proliferation and expression of α-SMA and CollagenⅠ by autophagy

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effect of different hardness of silicone rubber (SRs) on the proliferation and expression of α- SMA and Collagen Ⅰ in human dermal fibroblasts (HFBs), and study the role of autophagy in the process. Methods In this study, we prepared a series of SRs with different hardness by changing the ratio of liquid silica gel component A to B. The mechanical properties of SRs such as A-shore hardness, breaking elongation, water contact angle and surface morphology were measured. CCK-8 assay was used to study the proliferation of HFBs cultivated on the surface of these SRs. Then, 2 kinds of SRs with significant differences in hardness and cell proliferation were subjected, and Western blotting and ELISA were employed to detect the expression of autophagy markers, α-SMA and CollagenⅠin the HFBs after the treatment with autophagy inhibitor 3-MA and inducer rapamycin respectively. Results The proliferation of HFBs was obviously increased with the increase of SRs hardness (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the HFBs cultured on harder SRs surface had higher autophagy activity, and lower expression levels of α-SMA and Collagen Ⅰ when compared with the cells on softer SRs surface (P < 0.01). Conclusion The SRs hardness may affect the proliferation of HFBs by regulating autophagy. High hardness SRs promotes the proliferation of HFBs and inhibits the expression of α-SMA and CollagenⅠby enhancing autophagy activity.

Keywords

• silicone rubber
• hardness
• cell proliferation
• autophagy
• α-sma
• collagenⅰ