title: Multiwell plate tools for controlling cellular alignment with grooved topography.
abstract: In many tissues, cells must be aligned for proper function. This alignment can occur at the cellular and/or subcellular (protein/molecular) level. The alignment of cytoskeletal components, in fact, precedes whole cell alignment. A variety of methods exist to manipulate cytoskeletal and whole cell alignment; one of the simplest and most predictable involves seeding adherent cells onto defined substrate topography. We present here two methods to create grooved multiwell plates: one involving microfabrication, which allows for custom design of substrate topography, and a simpler, inexpensive method using commercially available diffraction gratings. We also include methods for manual and automatic quantification of cell alignment.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5S 3E5.
authors.forename: Camila
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Londono
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Soleas
authors.forename: Petra B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Lücker
authors.forename: Suthamathy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sathananthan
authors.forename: J Stewart
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Aitchison
authors.forename: Alison P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: McGuigan
mesh_terms: D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D002460:Cell Line; D002477:Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D055616:Microtechnology; D012984:Software