Large-Scale Protein Arrays Generated with Interferometric Lithography for Spatial Control of Cell-Material Interactions

Abstract EN

Understanding cellular interactions with material surfaces at the micro- and nanometer scale is essential for the development of the next generation of biomaterials.

Several techniques have been used to create micro- and nanopatterned surfaces as a means of studying cellular interactions with a surface.

Herein, we report the novel use of interference lithography to create a large (4 cm2) array of 33 nm deep channels in a gold surface, to expose an antireflective coating on a silicon wafer at the bottom of the gold channels.

The fabricated pores had a diameter of 140–350 nm separated by an average pitch of 304–750 nm, depending on the fabrication conditions.

The gold surface was treated with 2-(2-(2-(11-mercaptoundecyloxy)ethoxy)ethoxy)ethanol to create protein-resistant areas.

Fibronectin was selectively adsorbed onto the exposed antireflective coating creating nanometer-scale cell adhesive domains.

A murine osteoblast cell line (MC3T3-E1) was seeded onto the surfaces and was shown to attach to the fibronectin domains and spread across the material surface.