Nanograting structure promotes lamellipodia-based cell collective migration and wound healing

Wound healing is a dynamic and complex process of replacing missing or dead cell structures and tissue layers. The aim of this research is to discover biocompatible materials and drugs that can promote cell migration in the wound area and thus enhance desirable wound healing effects. In this paper, we report that PDMS nanogratings could accelerate the migration of epithelial cells along the grating axis, and the addition of Imatinib could further increase the epithelial cell wound healing speed to 1.6 times the speed of control cells. We also demonstrate that this migration is mediated by lamellipodia protrusion, and is Rac1-GTPase activity dependent. Lastly, we discuss the potential application and prospect of different nanostructured biomaterials for wound healing studies.