Cell Alignment Modulated by Surface Nano-Topography – Roles of Cell-Matrix and Cell-Cell Interactions

Abstract

Cell alignment is critical in numerous areas, from tissue engineering to biohybrid robotics. Cell alignment is modulated through many features including surface topographies, mechanical cues from cell-matrix interactions, and cell-cell interactions. In this study, we present our approach to examine the role of surface topographies and cell-cell interactions with respect to cell alignment. We developed an approach to create wavy surface topographies at the nanometer size scale, which when integrated with cell culture affects cell alignment. Within a defined range of wavelengths and amplitudes of the surface topographies, cell alignment is dependent on culture confluency. This cell alignment’s dependence on confluency suggests that cell-cell interactions related to alignment may be correlated to cell-matrix interactions. Thus, we inhibited N-cadherin related cell-cell interactions through introduced anti-N-cadherin while culturing cells on our controlled surface topographies. We found that when using anti-N-cadherin, cells on patterned surfaces required greater confluency to achieve the same alignment to cell culture not in the presence of the antibody. Our results will be important in numerous areas including tissue repair, cell differentiation, and biohybrid systems.