Morphology of CD4⁺T Lymphocytes Bound on Nano-Patterened Substrates for Sensing the Size of Nanoholes

Abstract

We report on direct finding of how the morphology (i.e. filopodia width) of CD4 + T lymphocytes correlates with the size of the quartz nanohohole arrays (QNHAs, 140, 200, 270, and 550 nm in diameter) via scanning electron microscopy (SEM). This research exhibits that the filopodia of CD4 + T-lymphocytes extended on the QNHA substrates were observed to increase in width by increasing the size of QNHA in diameter from 140 to 550 nm. This strong linear response (R 2 =0.988, n = 6) in filopodia's width of surface-bound CD4 + Tcells with topographical structures of QNHA can be explained by contact guidance between the cells and solid-state substrates. Furthermore, this research suggests that the protruded filopodia of surface-bound T-lymphocytes can be used as a biosensor for sensing the topographical information of the nano-patterned substrates.