title: In-mold patterning and actionable axo-somatic compartmentalization for on-chip neuron culture.
abstract: Oriented neuronal networks with controlled connectivity are required for many applications ranging from studies of neurodegeneration to neuronal computation. To build such networks in vitro, an efficient, directed and long lasting guidance of axons toward their target is a pre-requisite. The best guidance achieved so far, however, relies on confining axons in enclosed microchannels, making them poorly accessible for further investigation. Here we describe a method providing accessible and highly regular arrays of axons, emanating from somas positioned in distinct compartments. This method combines the use of a novel removable partition, allowing soma positioning outside of the axon guidance patterns, and in-mold patterning (iMP), a hybrid method combining chemical and mechanical cell positioning clues applied here for the first time to neurons. The axon guidance efficiency of iMP is compared to that of conventional patterning methods, e.g. micro-contact printing (chemical constraints by a poly-l-lysine motif) and micro-grooves (physical constraints by homogeneously coated microstructures), using guiding tracks of different widths and spacing. We show that iMP provides a gain of 10 to 100 in axon confinement efficiency on the tracks, yielding mm-long, highly regular, and fully accessible on-chip axon arrays. iMP also allows well-defined axon guidance from small populations of several neurons confined at predefined positions in μm-sized wells. iMP will thus open new routes for the construction of complex and accurately controlled neuronal networks.
authors.affiliation: Institut Curie, PSL Research University, CNRS, UMR 168, F-75005, Paris, France. catherine.villard@curie.fr (CV) laurent.malaquin@laas.fr (LM) and Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, UMR 168, F-75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Ayako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.affiliation: Institut Curie, PSL Research University, CNRS, UMR 168, F-75005, Paris, France. catherine.villard@curie.fr (CV) laurent.malaquin@laas.fr (LM) and Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, UMR 168, F-75005, Paris, France and UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, UMR 8256, B2A, Sorbonne Universités, Biological Adaptation and Ageing, Institut de Biologie Paris Seine, Paris, F-75005, France. jean-michel.peyrin@upmc.fr (JMP).
authors.forename: Maéva
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vignes
authors.affiliation: Institut Curie, PSL Research University, CNRS, UMR 168, F-75005, Paris, France. catherine.villard@curie.fr (CV) laurent.malaquin@laas.fr (LM) and Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, UMR 168, F-75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Cécile
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bureau
authors.affiliation: Institut Curie, PSL Research University, CNRS, UMR 168, F-75005, Paris, France. catherine.villard@curie.fr (CV) laurent.malaquin@laas.fr (LM) and Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, UMR 168, F-75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mamane
authors.affiliation: Institut Curie, PSL Research University, CNRS, UMR 168, F-75005, Paris, France. catherine.villard@curie.fr (CV) laurent.malaquin@laas.fr (LM) and Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, UMR 168, F-75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Bastien
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Venzac
authors.affiliation: Institut Curie, PSL Research University, CNRS, UMR 168, F-75005, Paris, France. catherine.villard@curie.fr (CV) laurent.malaquin@laas.fr (LM) and Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, UMR 168, F-75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Stéphanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Descroix
authors.affiliation: Institut Curie, PSL Research University, CNRS, UMR 168, F-75005, Paris, France. catherine.villard@curie.fr (CV) laurent.malaquin@laas.fr (LM) and Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, UMR 168, F-75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Louis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Viovy
authors.affiliation: Institut Curie, PSL Research University, CNRS, UMR 168, F-75005, Paris, France. catherine.villard@curie.fr (CV) laurent.malaquin@laas.fr (LM) and Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, UMR 168, F-75005, Paris, France and CNRS, Inst NEEL and CRETA, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, F-38042 Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Villard
authors.affiliation: UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, UMR 8256, B2A, Sorbonne Universités, Biological Adaptation and Ageing, Institut de Biologie Paris Seine, Paris, F-75005, France. jean-michel.peyrin@upmc.fr (JMP).
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Peyrin
authors.affiliation: Institut Curie, PSL Research University, CNRS, UMR 168, F-75005, Paris, France. catherine.villard@curie.fr (CV) laurent.malaquin@laas.fr (LM) and Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, UMR 168, F-75005, Paris, France and LAAS-CNRS, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, Toulouse, France. jean-michel.peyrin@upmc.fr.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Malaquin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000378:metabolism*; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D056656:Lab-On-A-Chip Devices; D051379:Mice; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology*; D011327:Printing