AVS 49th International Symposium
    Biomaterials Thursday Sessions
       Session BI-ThA

Paper BI-ThA2
Micropatterning of Polymer Surfaces for Controlled Cell Adhesion and Spreading Processes

Thursday, November 7, 2002, 2:20 pm, Room C-201

Session: Cell Patterning to Engineer Function
Presenter: C. Satriano, University of Catania, Italy
Authors: C. Satriano, University of Catania, Italy
S. Carnazza, University of Messina, Italy
S. Guglielmino, University of Messina, Italy
A. Licciardello, University of Catania, Italy
G. Marletta, University of Catania, Italy
Correspondent: Click to Email
The prompting of cell adhesion and spreading processes onto polymeric surfaces activated by ion beam irradiation is a phenomenon observed for several polymers. In particular, in the case of carbon-based polymers and silicon-based polymers, the enhancement of cytocompatibility of the ion-irradiated surfaces has been mainly related to the formation of amorphous phases of hydrogenated carbon or SiO@sub2@-like clusters, respectively. In this work the physico-chemical properties of two representative polymers of the two classes above mentioned, i.e., poly(ethyleneterephtalate) (PET) and poly(hydroxymethylsiloxane) (PHMS) were modified in a graded and controlled way with a micrometric spatial resolution. Namely, irradiated patterns with stripes of width ranging between 10 and 100 microns were obtained on the two polymer surfaces by using finely focused ion beams, with a total ion dose of 1x10@super15@ ion/cm@super2@. The surface chemical structure and composition of the ion-modified surfaces were characterized by TOF-SIMS and Small Spot XPS, the micro-topography and the morphology were measured by AFM, finally, the surface free energies were calculated by wettability measurements. Fibroblast cells were used to test the cell adhesion and viability on the various micropatterned surfaces. Optical Microscopy was employed to characterize the importance of the lateral resolution effect respectively in PET and PHMS. Epifluorescence Microscopy evidenced the occurrence a specific cell morphology and mitotic activity for the different patterned surfaces. Furthermore, preferential cell alignment effects were observed depending on the type of irradiated polymer.