In order to create suitable biocompatible materials for various tissue engineering applications, it is important to be able to understand protein adsorption and cell adhesion behaviors on the material surfaces. It is known that the nanoscale distribution of adsorbed proteins affects cell adhesion behaviors. However, how nanoscale structures affect cell adhesion behaviors is still unclear. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the effect of nanostructures formed by amphiphilic block copolymers on protein adsorption and cell adhesion. Nanoscale phase-separated structures with the different size of the hydrophobic dot-like domains were fabricated by changing the chemical composition, and then the behaviors of protein adsorption and cell adhesion were analyzed. Cells could adhere better on structures with larger hydrophobic dotlike domains because the amount of adsorbed proteins was larger as well. Furthermore, nanoscale phase-separated structures with the opposite polarity were fabricated by changing the solvents. While cells could adhere on structures with the hydrophobic matrix, cells could not adhere on structures with the hydrophilic matrix even though both the amount and density of adsorbed proteins were similar on both structures. This suggests that the simple difference of the distribution of adsorbed proteins can be used to control cell adhesion behaviors.
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