Thermoresponsive micropatterned substrates for single cell studies

TL;DR

This paper presents thermoresponsive micropatterned surfaces using PNIPAM polymer brushes that enable controlled cell adhesion and detachment for single cell studies, with potential applications in cell manipulation.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel micropatterned substrate with thermoresponsive properties for precise control of cell adhesion and detachment, combining photolithography and polymer chemistry.

Findings

PNIPAM brushes exhibit excellent anti-adhesive properties.

Micropatterns can be precisely created at micron scale.

Cell detachment is achieved by lowering temperature below 32°C.

Abstract

We describe the design of micropatterned surfaces for single cell studies, based on thermoresponsive polymer brushes. We show that brushes made of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) grafted at high surface density display excellent protein and cell anti-adhesive properties. Such brushes are readily patterned at the micron scale via deep UV photolithography. A proper choice of the adhesive pattern shapes, combined with the temperature-dependent swelling properties of PNIPAM, allow us to use the polymer brush as a microactuator which induces cell detachment when the temperature is reduced below 32degC.