Critical adhesion areas of cells on micro-nanopatterns

Abstract

Cell adhesion to extracellular matrices (ECM) is critical to physiological and pathological processes as well as biomedical and biotechnological applications. It has been known that a cell can adhere on an adhesive microisland only over a critical size. But no publication has concerned critical adhesion areas of cells on microislands with nanoarray decoration. Herein, we fabricated a series of micro-nanopatterns with different microisland sizes and arginine-glycine-aspartate (RGD) nanospacings on a nonfouling poly(ethylene glycol) background. Besides reproducing that nanospacing of RGD, a ligand of its receptor integrin (a membrane protein), significantly influences specific cell adhesion on bioactive nanoarrays, we confirmed that the concept of critical adhesion area originally suggested in studies of cells on micropatterns was justified also on the micro-nanopatterns, yet the latter exhibited more characteristic behaviors of cell adhesion. We found increased critical adhesion areas of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) on nanoarrayed microislands with increased RGD nanospacings. However, the numbers of nanodots with respect to the critical adhesion areas were not a constant. A unified interpretation was then put forward after combining nonspecific background adhesion and specific cell adhesion. We further carried out the asymptotic analysis of a series of micro-nanopatterned surfaces to obtain the effective RGD nanospacing on unpatterned free surfaces with densely grafted RGD, which could be estimated nonzero but has never been revealed previously without the assistance of the micro-nanopatterning techniques and the corresponding analysis.

Recent strategies for improving hemocompatibility and endothelialization of cardiovascular devices and inhibition of intimal hyperplasia

“…On the base of ECM components playing important roles in endothelium regeneration and angiogenesis, many research studies have used ECM components, such as collagen, laminin, heparin and growth factors, to coat or modify the device surface so as to help reproduce a natural monoendothelial layer. 40 3.2.1. Endothelial ECM (EC-ECM) components.…”

Biodegradable Microparticles for Regenerative Medicine: A State of the Art and Trends to Clinical Application

“…Further engineering efforts are directed towards the design of MC with different formats that replicate signaling cues and the 3D network found in the native tissues of cells [ 138 ]. In this framework, MC surface features are key parameters that need to be controlled as they possess a huge impact on the cell fate [ 135 , 140 ]. As highlighted in Figure 4 , the functionalization of the MC surface can be achieved through both physical and chemical means.…”

Integrating Soft Hydrogel with Nanostructures Reinforces Stem Cell Adhesion and Differentiation

“…Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a promising source of regenerative medicine for tissue engineering and regenerative therapeutics. Biophysical cues, such as matrix stiffness [3,4], surface topography [5][6][7], ligand spacing [8,9], and ligand dynamics [10][11][12][13], are shown to regulate cellular behaviors and cell fates. In particular, MSCs can sense and respond to matrix stiffness, which is indicated by Young's modulus and represents the elasticity of the matrix [2].…”