Engineering stem cell niche: Regulation of cellular morphology and function

Stem cells with the capacity to differentiate into a variety of tissue lineages are promising cell sources for tissue repair and regeneration. Their properties and behaviours are highly regulated by the “niche” they reside within. Engineering of stem cell niche in vitro is governed by the presentation of both inductive soluble chemical cues and non-soluble physical cues. Regardless of the different stimuli, commitment of specific cell fate is always accompanied by restructuring of cell contour into particular morphology. The role of cellular morphology in cell fate determination has been established with the application of micro engineering tools that allow precise control of stem cell morphology. Stem cells were manipulated to conform to defined cell area, shape, aspect ratio or cell patch pattern using these tools. While the underlying mechanism of cell morphology induced cell fate commitment is under investigation, recent studies focus on biomechanics has highlighted the existence of mechanistic link between cell morphology and cell tension. Besides the direct measurement of traction force, a number of cell tensions related signalling regulators has been suggested to interact with the different cell morphology. Here a review on cellular morphology modulation on stem cell lineage commitment and its underlying mechanisms are presented.