title: Cell adhesion testing using novel testbeds containing micropatterns of complex nanoengineered multilayer films.
abstract: Methods for producing biomaterial patterns with defined spatial distribution micro- and nano-scale features are important for studying the cellular-level interactions, including basic cell-to-material and cell-to-cell communications. This work reports on the fabrication of substrates to study cell adhesion to multicomponent micropatterns of multilayer films by coupling conventional photolithography and LbL techniques, known as the L-LbL technique. Toward this end, substrates with nanofilm micropatterns of two different bio-functionalities have been fabricated for sPLA/sub 2/ and PLL and were used for in vitro cell-culture studies using neurons, which exhibited preferential and high efficiency and selective adhesion to sPLA/sub 2/ nanofilms. These results support the immediate use of multicomponent micropatterns as biological testbeds for basic studies of cells, and provide a basis for further expansions of the fabrication processes to produce scaffolds for precise definition of cell-to-material and cell-to-cell interactions, such that the resulting constructs mimic in vivo cell organization and behavior.
authors.affiliation: Inst. of Micromanuf., Louisiana State Univ., Ruston, LA, USA.
authors.forename: Javeed
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shaikh-Mohammed
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: DeCoster
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: McShane