Cell patterning via laser micro/nano structured silicon surfaces

Abstract

The surface topography of biomaterials can have an important impact on cellular adhesion, growth and proliferation. Apart from the overall roughness, the detailed morphological features, at all length scales, significantly affect the cell-biomaterial interactions in a plethora of applications including structural implants, tissue engineering scaffolds and biosensors. In this study, we present a simple, one-step direct laser patterning technique to fabricate nanoripples and dual-rough hierarchical micro/nano structures to control SW10 cell attachment and migration. It is shown that, depending on the laser processing conditions, distinct cell-philic or cell-repellant patterned areas can be attained with a desired motif. We envisage that our technique could enable spatial patterning of cells in a controllable manner, giving rise to advanced capabilities in cell biology research.

Femtosecond laser-induced microstructures on Ti substrates for reduced cell adhesion

“…We showed, for instance, in an earlier publication that shallow laser-induced LIPSS structures on polymers with a period of 250-300 nm restricted the cell-surface contact to the structure tops, while the cells could follow laser-induced structures with a wider periodicity [24]. These findings are in good agreement with the recent work of Yiannakou et al [25] on femtosecond laser-induced structures on Si irradiated in water. They showed that LIPSS structures on Si with a periodicity of about 150 nm suppressed cell adhesion, while coarser (but not too sharp) laser-induced structures in the µm range could be well colonized by cells.…”

Hierarchical microstructures with high spatial frequency laser induced periodic surface structures possessing different orientations created by femtosecond laser ablation of silicon in liquids

“…Laser ablation offers a versatile platform that can simultaneously induce surface structures [1][2][3] and synthesize nanomaterials [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] for diverse applications, such as wettability control [14][15][16][17] , bioimaging 6,18 , cellular growth manipulation [19][20][21] , lithium-ion batteries 22 , surface enhanced Ra-man scattering (SERS) detection 23,24 , catalysis/ photocatalysis/electrochemical-catalysis 6,7,25 and antifriction [26][27][28][29] . Laser processing also enables the microfabrication of three-dimensional structures and devices 30,31 .…”

“…Differently, Daminelli et al demonstrated the possibility to generate Si-HSFL with Λ LIPSS of ~100 nm at the edge of a crater created by LAL in water at fluence of 1.5 J/cm 2 41 . Yiannakou et al showed that Si-HSFL can still form at fluence of 0.55±0.10 J/cm 2 and increasing laser fluence to 0.62±0.14 J/cm 2 gave rise to the formation of micro-grooves, leading to the formation of micro/nano dual scale hierarchical structures 20 . The summary of previous works shown in Table 1 indicates Si-HSFLs are achievable in the wide laser fluence range of 0.1-1.5 J/cm 2 .…”

Effect of spatial arrangement and structure of hierarchically patterned fibrous scaffolds generated by a femtosecond laser on cardiomyoblast behavior

“…The femtosecond laser application of biomaterials is a fast, highly accurate, and easily reproducible processing method that can be conducted under ambient conditions to minimize the heat‐affected zone (HAZ) on target materials . The femtosecond laser fabrication of the hierarchically patterned fibrous scaffolds resulted in microscale groove patterns on the surface of nanoscale fibrous scaffolds (Fig.…”

“…To overcome the weakness of these conventional fabrication methods used for fibrous scaffolds, the utilization of femtosecond laser processing has been attempted . The laser processing of materials offers several advantages such as a delicate patterning technique through a fast and uncomplicated process of direct ablation of the material . In particular, femtosecond laser ablation is a well‐known precise fabrication technique that induces negligible thermal stress or collateral damage on the target materials owing to the very short time scales involved in the laser–materials interaction (10 −15 s) .…”