Control of the cell shape and cell patterning using the particle monolayers

We prepared the particle monolayer, which could display a hexagonal arrangement pattern of the contact point ranging from nanometer to micrometer scales, by Langmuir-Blodgett method. HUVECs were seeded on the particle monolayer and the cell shapes were observed with a fluorescent microscope. As the pitch of particle monolayers became large, cells became a round shape and cell migration was suppressed. Most cells uniformly adhered onto the non-treated particle monolayer in a few hours at the seeding density of 200,000 cells/cm₂, whereas cells on the non-treated PS dish formed spheroid-like aggregates. To make a non-adhesive region, BSA molecules were immobilized onto the particle monolayer by the photolithography. When HUVECs were seeded on the photopatterned particle monolayer, cells tended not to adhere onto the BSA-immobilized region on the particle monolayer, resulting in adhering onto the non-treated region.