title: Synaptic compartmentalization by micropatterned masking of a surface adhesive cue in cultured neurons.
abstract: Functions of neuronal circuit are fundamentally modulated by its quality and quantity of connections. Assessment of synapse, the basic unit for a neuronal connection, is labor-intensive and time-consuming in conventional culture systems, due to the small size and the spatially random distribution. In the present study, we propose a novel 'synapse compartmentalization' culture system, in which synapses are concentrated at controlled locations. We fabricated a negative dot array pattern by coating the entire surface with poly-l-lysine (PLL) and subsequent microcontact printing of 1) substrates which mask positive charge of PLL (Fc, BSA and laminin), or 2) a chemorepulsive protein (Semaphorin 3F-Fc). By combination of physical and biological features of these repulsive substrates, functional synapses were robustly concentrated in the PLL-coated dots. This synapse compartmentalization chip can be combined with the various high-throughput assay formats based on the synaptic morphology and function. Therefore, this quantifiable and controllable dot array pattern by microcontact printing will be potential useful for bio-chip platforms for the high-density assays used in synapse-related neurobiological studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Brain Korea 21, Korea University College of Medicine, Anam-Dong, Sungbuk-Gu, Seoul, 136-705, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jae Ryun
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Brain Korea 21, Korea University College of Medicine, Anam-Dong, Sungbuk-Gu, Seoul, 136-705, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Min Jee
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Brain Korea 21, Korea University College of Medicine, Anam-Dong, Sungbuk-Gu, Seoul, 136-705, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Youhwa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jo
authors.affiliation: Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, KAIST, 291 Daehak-Ro, Yuseong-Gu, Daejeon, 305-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sunghoon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Joo
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, 136-713, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Do Hoon
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, 136-713, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Byung Yang
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, KAIST, 291 Daehak-Ro, Yuseong-Gu, Daejeon, 305-701, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: ynam@kaist.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Yoonkey
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nam
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Brain Korea 21, Korea University College of Medicine, Anam-Dong, Sungbuk-Gu, Seoul, 136-705, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: woongsun@korea.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Woong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000269:Adhesives / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D002451:Cell Compartmentation / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003712:Dendrites / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D046228:Microarray Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D011327:Printing; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D039961:Semaphorins / Q000494:pharmacology; D013499:Surface Properties; D013569:Synapses / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000269:Adhesives; D039961:Semaphorins
keywords: Bioassay chip; Microcontact printing; Neuronal culture; Synapse compartmentalization