Gradient Technology for High-Throughput Screening of Interactions between Cells and Nanostructured Materials

Andrew Michelmore,David A Steele,Lauren Clements,Endre J Szili,Nicolas H Voelcker

doi:10.1155/2012/839053

Andrew Michelmore, David A Steele + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/839053

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Abstract

We present a novel substrate suitable for the high-throughput analysis of cell response to variations in surface chemistry and nanotopography. Electrochemical etching was used to produce silicon wafers with nanopores between 10 and 100 nm in diameter. Over this substrate and flat silicon wafers, a gradient film ranging from hydrocarbon to carboxylic acid plasma polymer was deposited, with the concentration of surface carboxylic acid groups varying between 0.7 and 3% as measured by XPS. MG63 osteoblast-like cells were then cultured on these substrates and showed greatest cell spreading and adhesion onto porous silicon with a carboxylic acid group concentration between 2-3%. This method has great potential for high-throughput screening of cell-material interaction with particular relevance to tissue engineering.

Highlights

There are approximately 500,000 bone graft procedures performed in the US alone each year [1]
The RMS roughness was higher on porous silicon at 0.6 nm, and the maximum peak-peak was higher at 6 nm
The roughness of the flat and porous silicon surfaces remained unchanged after deposition of the plasma polymer gradient, indicating that the coating was thin and had conformed to the underlying substrate topography

Summary

Introduction

There are approximately 500,000 bone graft procedures performed in the US alone each year [1]. An alternative approach is the use of engineered bone tissue scaffolds [3] It has been shown for different cell-types that surface topography can have a major affect on the way cells adhere and proliferate on surfaces [4,5,6,7,8]. As cells adhere to their growing surface, stresses are imparted to their cytoskeletal wall, which impacts on their focal adhesion. This phenomenon is still not completely understood, it is known that ideally the surface nanotopography should be tuned for each cell type to achieve optimal cell adhesion on synthetic materials

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