Micropatterns Based on Deformation of a Viscoelastic Honeycomb Mesh

Abstract

We report that various geometric patterns can be formed upon mechanical deformation of hexagonal micro polymer mesh. The patterning of micromesh can be applied to the fabrication of micropatterned soft-materials for cell culturing. A microporous film was prepared from a viscoelastic polymer, poly(ε-caprolactone). The film was a hexagonal mesh of 4 μm diameter. Plastic deformation of the film was caused by loading tensile force in one direction. Geometrical patterns such as elongated hexagons, rectangles, squares, and triangles were found in the stretched microporous film. These four types of deformation were reproduced by computer simulations using a viscoelastic network of hexagonally connected viscoelastic bonds. On the stretched hexagonal mesh, cardiac myocytes formed fibrous tissue where cells were aligned along the direction of the long axis of micropores. The hierarchical structure of blood vessels could be modeled by the coculture of endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells using a stretched honeycomb film as a micropatterned substrate.

Droplet condensation on polymer surfaces: A review

“…Hexagonal, rectangular, square, and triangular geometric patterns could be obtained on the stretched film, which can be used as a cell culture substrate. 211 Srinivasarao and coworkers reported hexagonally ordered 2-dimensional microstructured films made of rod-like conjugated poly(para-phenylene ethylene) and found that it is necessary to use either highly branched or coiled (such as PS) structural segments.…”

Relationship between Adsorbed Fibronectin and Cell Adhesion on a Honeycomb-patterned Film

“…Honeycomb-patterned porous films (hereafter called honeycomb films) were fabricated on cover glasses (φ=15mm, Matsunami Glass Industry, Japan) by a method previously reported [24,[34][35][36].…”

“…By mechanical stretching a honeycomb-patterned film made of a viscoelastic polymer, pores of various shapes, such as hexagonal, elongated hexagonal, rectangular, square-like, or triangle-like, can be formed in a controlled way [24].…”

“…Our recent studies on the culture of cells, such as endothelial cells (EC), cardiac myocytes (CMYs), neural projenitor cells, and hepatocytes, on honeycomb-patterned films revealed that cellular behavior such as migration, spreading, and morphology can be controlled by the size and shape of pores of the film [11,13,19,21,24]. These characteristics of honeycomb-patterned films make these films suitable candidates for cell-culture substrates used in studying the effect of substratum surface morphology on the adsorption of adhesive proteins and the role that morphology plays in cell behavior.…”

Formation of honeycomb‐structured, porous films via breath figures with different polymer architectures

“…To date, a range of different polymers have been used to obtain honeycomb-structured films, 3 such as linear conjugated polymers with semiconducting properties, 14,15 polyimides, 16 light-emitting polymers, 17 liquid-crystalline polymers, 18 organometallic polymers, 19 and degradable polymers such as poly(e-caprolactone). 20 However, the question remains what factors influence the formation of highly ordered films to make the process less empirical. The viscosities of the solution, the surface tension between the water droplets and solution, and the precipitation of the polymer at the interface would appear to be significant parameters.…”