Premium
Nonadhesive nanotopography: Fibroblast response to poly( n ‐butyl methacrylate)‐poly(styrene) demixed surface features
Author(s) -
Dalby M. J.,
Riehle M. O.,
Johnstone H. J. H.,
Affrossman S.,
Curtis A. S. G.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of biomedical materials research part a
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1552-4965
pISSN - 1549-3296
DOI - 10.1002/jbm.a.10139
Subject(s) - nanotopography , materials science , styrene , nanoscopic scale , methacrylate , microscopy , scanning electron microscope , polymer , adhesion , in situ , nanotechnology , fluorescence microscope , chemical engineering , fluorescence , copolymer , optics , composite material , chemistry , organic chemistry , physics , engineering
It is becoming clear that cells do not only respond to micrometric scale topography, but may also respond to topography at the nanometric scale. Nano‐fabrication methods such as electron beam lithography are, however, expensive and time consuming. Polymer demixing of poly(styrene) and poly(4‐bromostyrene) has been found to produce nano‐scale islands of reproducible height, and the islands have been previously shown to effect cell events such as adhesion, spreading, proliferation, and differentiation. This study uses demixed poly(styrene) and poly( n ‐butyl methacrylate) to produce nano‐islands with closer packing and narrower widths compared with those previously studied. Observations have been made of morphological and cytoskeletal changes in human fibroblasts interacting with 10‐ and 50‐nm‐high islands. The methods used included scanning electron microscopy, fluorescent microscopy, and optical microscopy. The results indicated that the cells do not respond differently to the 10‐nm islands compared with planar samples but, in contrast, the 50‐nm islands are nonadhesive. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res 67A: 1025–1032, 2003