Graduation Semester and Year
2023
Language
English
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering
Department
Bioengineering
First Advisor
Michael Cho
Abstract
Adipose-Derived Stem Cells (ADSCs) are a sub-type of stem cell that can be collected and isolated from the adipose tissue. Adipogenesis describes the commitment and differentiation of stem cells, including ADSCs, toward the adipocyte lineage. While much research has been completed on this process in the long term (>2 weeks), morphological changes of adipogenesis during the early phase (<24 hours) are lacking in the literature and remain to be elucidated. The current study focuses on these changes in the early and later stages of adipogenesis using adipogenic differentiation factors and fluorescent imaging analyses. Quantifiable data on morphological changes during both phases can provide insight into how these changes affect later differentiation and lay the groundwork for additional research in this area. Using fluorescent image analysis, it was shown that the eccentricity of ADSCs, a measure of cellular circularity, decreases exponentially in the early phase of adipogenesis. In contrast, the cellular area appears to increase exponentially during the same early period. During the later stages of differentiation, it was shown that actin filament length decreases exponentially and the ratio of lipid to actin length increases exponentially, demonstrating that lipid accumulation outpaces actin filament shortening and increasing circularity during the later stages. These findings may be used in future studies to further define the role of actin filament-mediated morphological changes and mechanobiology during adipogenesis.
Keywords
Stem cells, Actin, Adipocyte
Disciplines
Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering | Engineering
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Priester, Adam, "FORMATION AND MORPHOLOGICAL CHANGES OF STRESS ACTIN FILAMENTS IN ADIPOSE-DERIVED STEM CELLS" (2023). Bioengineering Theses. 224.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/bioengineering_theses/224
Comments
Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington