Pattern-Dependent Mammalian Cell (Vero) Morphology on Tantalum/Silicon Oxide 3D Nanocomposites.

Hassan Moussa,Kingsley Wong,Marc Aucoin,Wing Chan,Megan Logan,Ting Tsui,Zheng Rao

doi:10.3390/ma11081306

Abstract

The primary goal of this work was to investigate the resulting morphology of a mammalian cell deposited on three-dimensional nanocomposites constructed of tantalum and silicon oxide. Vero cells were used as a model. The nanocomposite materials contained comb structures with equal-width trenches and lines. High-resolution scanning electron microscopy and fluorescence microscopy were used to image the alignment and elongation of cells. Cells were sensitive to the trench widths, and their observed behavior could be separated into three different regimes corresponding to different spreading mechanism. Cells on fine structures (trench widths of 0.21 to 0.5 μm) formed bridges across trench openings. On larger trenches (from 1 to 10 μm), cells formed a conformal layer matching the surface topographical features. When the trenches were larger than 10 μm, the majority of cells spread like those on blanket tantalum films; however, a significant proportion adhered to the trench sidewalls or bottom corner junctions. Pseudopodia extending from the bulk of the cell were readily observed in this work and a minimum effective diameter of ~50 nm was determined for stable adhesion to a tantalum surface. This sized structure is consistent with the ability of pseudopodia to accommodate ~4–6 integrin molecules.

Highlights

Recent studies have used micro- and nanometer-scale engineered structures to mimic extracellular matrices and other biological structures, which have led to a groundbreaking understanding of the physical cues and molecular signal transduction pathways for integrin activated focal adhesion, protein adsorption, and pseudopodia formation [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
Nanocomposites consisting of titania nanotubes/silver nanoparticles were successfully fabricated by Radtke et al [20]
A thin tantalum seed layer and copper were deposited on the patterned structures

Summary

Introduction

Recent studies have used micro- and nanometer-scale engineered structures to mimic extracellular matrices and other biological structures, which have led to a groundbreaking understanding of the physical cues and molecular signal transduction pathways for integrin activated focal adhesion, protein adsorption, and pseudopodia formation [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. Developed a novel technique that decorates polymeric nanofiber scaffolds with gold nanoparticles. This nanocomposite can promote longer outgrowth of neurites and control axonal elongation. Nanocomposites consisting of titania nanotubes/silver nanoparticles were successfully fabricated by Radtke et al [20]. This material allows suitable adhesion of L929 murine fibroblast

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Results