RNASeq of early and late passage (non-senescent and senescent) human mesenchymal stem cells cultured on soft (2 kPa) and stiff (25 kPa) collagen-I coated polyacrylamide gels.

Understanding how cells respond to the mechanics of their environment, and what affect senescence may have on this response, is important to gain a better understanding of mechanobiology, both in health and ageing-associated pathology. This experiment assessed the mRNA levels in early and late passage donor-matched human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) cultured for four days on soft (2 kPa) or stiff (25 kPa) collagen-I coated polyacrylamide (PA) gels. A minimum of three donors were analysed under each condition. Protein coding RNAs were sequenced with Illumina HiSeq technology. In a parallel experiment, protein was quantified by mass spectrometry proteomics.