Open AccessCell behaviors within a confined adhesive area fabricated using novel micropatterning methods
Author(s) -
Tsukasa Nakatoh,
Takuji Osaki,
Sohma Tanimoto,
Md. Golam Sarowar Jahan,
Tomohisa Kawakami,
Kentaro Chihara,
Nobuyuki Sakai,
Shigehiko Yumura
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0262632
Subject(s) - micropatterning , adhesive , materials science , adhesion , substrate (aquarium) , cell adhesion , coating , composite material , sputtering , laser ablation , nanotechnology , biomedical engineering , laser , optics , layer (electronics) , thin film , medicine , oceanography , physics , geology
In the field of cell and tissue engineering, there is an increasing demand for techniques to spatially control the adhesion of cells to substrates of desired sizes and shapes. Here, we describe two novel methods for fabricating a substrate for adhesion of cells to a defined area. In the first method, the surface of the coverslip or plastic dish was coated with Lipidure, a non-adhesive coating material, and air plasma was applied through a mask with holes, to confer adhesiveness to the surface. In the second method, after the surface of the coverslip was coated with gold by sputtering and then with Lipidure; the Lipidure coat was locally removed using a novel scanning laser ablation method. These methods efficiently confined cells within the adhesive area and enabled us to follow individual cells for a longer duration, compared to the currently available commercial substrates. By following single cells within the confined area, we were able to observe several new aspects of cell behavior in terms of cell division, cell–cell collisions, and cell collision with the boundary between adhesive and non-adhesive areas.