Macrophage cells are the immune system's frontline soldiers, early on the scene to protect the body from foreign invaders. These cells answer the immune system's critical question for the rest of its troops: friend or foe? As critical responders, macrophages can perceive helpful biotechnology as threats. If not created with the right materials or mechanical forces , these devices can trigger an immune response that can cause inflammation, scar tissue or device failure.
But what is the right material or the right mechanical force? In a meta-analysis co-led by Dr. Abigail Clevenger, a biomedical engineering graduate student at Texas A&M University, researchers emphasize that context matters. "Not any one force does the same thing to macrophages everywhere in the body," said Dr.
Shreya Raghavan, co-author and biomedical engineering assistant professor. "For example, your lung inflates and deflates, so the macrophage in the lung is already used to those forces and has some adaptations to those mechanics. But what a macrophage in the lung adapts to is different from what a macrophage in the uterus or gut adapts to.
" Now a postdoctoral fellow, Clevenger co-led the article with Dr. Aakanksha Jha, a University of Maryland postdoctoral fellow. Jha's advisor, Dr.
Erika Moore, was also a senior author on the study. The article, published in Trends in Biotechnology , highlights the need to understand macrophage cell behavior to potentially open doors for new or improved biotechnology and.