title: Cellular Response to Non-contacting Nanoscale Sublayer: Cells Sense Several Nanometer Mechanical Property.
abstract: Cell adhesion is influenced not only from the surface property of materials but also from the mechanical properties of the nanometer sublayer just below the surface. In this study, we fabricated a well-defined diblock polymer brush composed of 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) and 2-aminoethyl methacrylate (AEMA). The underlying layer of poly(MPC) is a highly viscous polymer, and the surface layer of poly(AEMA) is a cell-adhesive cationic polymer. The adhesion of L929 mouse fibroblasts was examined on the diblock polymer brush to see the effect of a non-contacting underlying polymer layer on the cell-adhesion behavior. Cells could sense the viscoelasticity of the underlying layers at the nanometer level, although the various fabricated diblock polymer brushes had the same surface property and the functional group. Thus, we found a new factor which could control cell spread at the nanometer level, and this insight would be important to design nanoscale biomaterials and interfaces.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, The University of Tokyo , 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Azuma
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, The University of Tokyo , 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.|Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology (IGP), Rudbeck Laboratory C5:3, Uppsala University , SE-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Teramura
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, The University of Tokyo , 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
authors.forename: Madoka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D008689:Methacrylates; D049329:Nanostructures; D010767:Phosphorylcholine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D011108:Polymers; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D008689:Methacrylates; D011108:Polymers; D010767:Phosphorylcholine; C070638:2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine; C072703:2-aminoethylmethacrylate
keywords: QCM-D; XRR; block polymer brush; cell adhesion; non-contacting layer