title: Facile cell patterning on an albumin-coated surface.
abstract: Fabrication of micropatterned surfaces to organize and control cell adhesion and proliferation is an indispensable technique for cell-based technologies. Although several successful strategies for creating cellular micropatterns on substrates have been demonstrated, a complex multistep process and requirements for special and expensive equipment or materials limit their prevalence as a general experimental tool. To circumvent these problems, we describe here a novel facile fabrication method for a micropatterned surface for cell patterning by utilizing the UV-induced conversion of the cell adhesive property of albumin, which is the most abundant protein in blood plasma. An albumin-coated surface was prepared by cross-linking albumin with ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether and subsequent casting of the cross-linked albumin solution on the cell culture dish. While cells did not attach to the albumin surface prepared in this way, UV exposure renders the surface cell-adhesive. Thus, surface micropatterning was achieved simply by exposing the albumin-coated surface to UV light through a mask with the desired pattern. Mouse fibroblast L929 cells were inoculated on the patterned albumin substrates, and cells attached and spread in a highly selective manner according to the UV-irradiated pattern. Although detailed investigation of the molecular-level mechanism concerning the change in cell adhesiveness of the albumin-coated surface is required, the present results would give a novel facile method for the fabrication of cell micropatterned surfaces.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Central 4-1, Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. hironori-yamazoe@aist.go.jp
authors.forename: Hironori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamazoe
authors.forename: Toshimasa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Uemura
authors.forename: Toshizumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tanabe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002460:Cell Line; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology*; D051379:Mice; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine