title: Fabrication of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) (PHBHHx) microstructures using soft lithography for scaffold applications.
abstract: This paper reports two soft lithographic methods, micromolding and hot embossing, to produce biodegradable poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-ftydroxyhexanoate) (PHBHHx) arrays of microstructures for hosting and culturing cells in a local microenvironment by controlled shape. Silicon masters with high-aspect-ratio microfeatures were fabricated using KOH and DRIE anisotropic etching. These silicon masters were used as molds to construct PHBHHx microstructures using micromolding and hot embossing. Using silicon rather than conventional PDMS as molds allowed microstructures with feature size of 20 microm and height of 100 microm to be realized. PHBHHx microstructures with different configurations including circles, rectangles, and octagons were fabricated to investigate the effects of topography on cell culture. Mouse fibroblast cell lines L929 were cultured on PHBHHx microstructures in vitro to investigate the biocompatibility. This study demonstrates the feasibility of microfabrication of PHBHHx structures with micro-scale feature size using soft lithography, and the results show that PHBHHx microstructures can be created to mimic cellular microenvironment for cell culture, providing a convenient means to investigate relationships of microstructures and cell functions.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microelectronics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. z.wang@tsinghua.edu.cn
authors.forename: Zheyao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Huan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yawu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Qiong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Litian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Guoqiang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D020155:3-Hydroxybutyric Acid / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D002208:Caproates / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002460:Cell Line; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D008422:Materials Testing; D051379:Mice; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry; D013499:Surface Properties; D000094122:Polyhydroxybutyrates
chemical_list: D020155:3-Hydroxybutyric Acid; D002208:Caproates; D012825:Silicon; C115940:poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate); D000094122:Polyhydroxybutyrates