Precise Control of Cell Adhesion by Combination of Surface Chemistry and Soft Lithography

Abstract

The adhesion of cells on an extracellular matrix (ECM) (in vivo) or the surfaces of materials (in vitro) is a prerequisite for most cells to survive. The rapid growth of nano/microfabrication and biomaterial technologies has provided new materials with excellent surfaces with specific, desirable biological interactions with their surroundings. On one hand, the chemical and physical properties of material surfaces exert an extensive influence on cell adhesion, proliferation, migration, and differentiation. On the other hand, material surfaces are useful for fundamental cell biology research and tissue engineering. In this Review, an overview will be given of the chemical and physical properties of newly developed material surfaces and their biological effects, as well as soft lithographic techniques and their applications in cell biology research. Recent advances in the manipulation of cell adhesion by the combination of surface chemistry and soft lithography will also be highlighted.

Graphene Oxide–Based Nanomaterials: An Insight into Retinal Prosthesis

“…At present, many research teams use ECM to prepare micropatterns to mimic in vivo regulation of interactions between cells and proteins, including cell migration and differentiation [107][108][109]. However, the interaction between cells and ECM is subject to unstable physical and chemical factors, such as low mechanical strength with high degradation susceptibility, preventing long-term culture; different protein concentration gradients; and oxidative protein denaturation.…”

Pneumatic smart surfaces with rapidly switchable dominant and latent superhydrophobicity

“…11 In contrast, the adhesive superhydrophobic surfaces recently observed on rose petals 12 can facilitate droplet pinning, and they exhibit great potential for droplet manipulation 13 and nanopatterning. 14 As each wetting mode features different properties and functions, solid surfaces with a fixed wetting behavior are significantly limited in some cuttingedge applications, the most obvious example of which is the development of intelligent devices, [15][16][17][18][19][20] in which there is a need to control the surface wettability dynamically and reversibly. [21][22][23] Hence, smart surfaces that possess multiple dewetting properties and permit flexible switching between them, similar to chameleons that expertly change camouflage colors on demand, are highly desired.…”

Fabrication of silicon molds with multi-level, non-planar, micro- and nano-scale features

“…A large surface contact leads to enhanced surface adhesion similar to a gecko's foot [17], or to reduced drag force due to an air/liquid interface which is similar to shark skin [18]. Tissue engineering has utilized 3D microfabrication to create templates for casting materials as scaffolds with capillary networks such as biodegradable hydrogels containing microfabricated blood vessels that mimic the real human body tissue that have recently been used in real applications for transplantable body tissues [19][20][21][22][23][24].…”