title: Selective modulation of cell response on engineered fractal silicon substrates.
abstract: A plethora of work has been dedicated to the analysis of cell behavior on substrates with ordered topographical features. However, the natural cell microenvironment is characterized by biomechanical cues organized over multiple scales. Here, randomly rough, self-affinefractal surfaces are generated out of silicon,where roughness Ra and fractal dimension Df are independently controlled. The proliferation rates, the formation of adhesion structures, and the morphology of 3T3 murine fibroblasts are monitored over six different substrates. The proliferation rate is maximized on surfaces with moderate roughness (Ra ~ 40 nm) and large fractal dimension (Df ~ 2.4); whereas adhesion structures are wider and more stable on substrates with higher roughness (Ra ~ 50 nm) and lower fractal dimension (Df ~ 2.2). Higher proliferation occurson substrates exhibiting densely packed and sharp peaks, whereas more regular ridges favor adhesion. These results suggest that randomly roughtopographies can selectively modulate cell behavior.
authors.affiliation: BioNEM - Center of BioNanotechnology and Engineering for Medicine, University of Magna Graecia, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gentile
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Medda
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Edmondo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Battista
authors.forename: Pasquale E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Scopelliti
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Milani
authors.forename: Elisabetta A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Cavalcanti-Adam
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Decuzzi
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000187:drug effects; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects*; D048430:Cell Shape / Q000187:drug effects; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology*; D017709:Fractals; D051379:Mice; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013499:Surface Properties; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D012825:Silicon