title: Surface coating as a key parameter in engineering neuronal network structures in vitro.
abstract: By quantitatively comparing a variety of macromolecular surface coating agents, we discovered that surface coating strongly modulates the adhesion and morphogenesis of primary hippocampal neurons and serves as a switch of somata clustering and neurite fasciculation in vitro. The kinetics of neuronal adhesion on poly-lysine-coated surfaces is much faster than that on laminin and Matrigel-coated surfaces, and the distribution of adhesion is more homogenous on poly-lysine. Matrigel and laminin, on the other hand, facilitate neuritogenesis more than poly-lysine does. Eventually, on Matrigel-coated surfaces of self-assembled monolayers, neurons tend to undergo somata clustering and neurite fasciculation. By replacing coating proteins with cerebral astrocytes, and patterning neurons on astrocytes through self-assembled monolayers, microfluidics and micro-contact printing, we found that astrocyte promotes soma adhesion and astrocyte processes guide neurites. There, astrocytes could be a versatile substrate in engineering neuronal networks in vitro. Besides, quantitative measurements of cellular responses on various coatings would be valuable information for the neurobiology community in the choice of the most appropriate coating strategy.
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Lab for Biological Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for NanoScience and Technology, Beijing, 100190, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Zhuo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Wenwen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Kaixuan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Kang
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Shige
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xingyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible / Q000737:chemistry*; D003094:Collagen / Q000737:chemistry; D004338:Drug Combinations; D007797:Laminin / Q000737:chemistry; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D011107:Polylysine / Q000737:chemistry; D011509:Proteoglycans / Q000737:chemistry; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible; D004338:Drug Combinations; D007797:Laminin; D011509:Proteoglycans; C059485:matrigel; D011107:Polylysine; D003094:Collagen