High‐Resolution Surface Chemical Analysis of a Trifunctional Pattern Made by Sequential Colloidal Shadowing

Doxorubicin hydrochloride loaded nanotextured films as a novel drug delivery platform for ovarian cancer treatment

An approach for cancer treatment is modulation of tumor microenvironment. Based on the role of extracellular matrix in cell modulation, fabrication of textured materials mimicking extracellular matrix could provide novel opportunities such as determining cancer cell behaviour. With this background, in this work, we have fabricated doxorubicin hydrochloride loaded nanotextured films which promote topographical attachment of cancer cells to film surface, and eliminate cells by release of the anti-cancer drug encapsulated within the films. These films are designed to be placed during surgical removal of the tumor with the intent to prevent ovarian cancer recurrence by capturing cancer cell residuals. With this aim, hemispherical protrusion shaped surface textures were acquired using colloidal lithography technique using 280 nm, 210 nm or 99 nm polystyrene particles. Once moulds were formed, nanotextured films were obtained by casting water-in-oil stable polycaprolactone emulsions encapsulating doxorubicin hydrochloride. Films were then characterized, and evaluated as drug delivery systems. According to results, we found that template morphologies were successfully transferred to films by atomic force microscopy studies. Hydrophilic surfaces were formed with contact angle values around 40°. In-vitro drug release studies indicated that nanotextured films best fit into the Higuchi model, and ∼30% of the drug is released from the films within 60 days. Cell culture results indicated increases in the attachment and viability of human ovarian cancer cells to nanotextured surfaces, particularly to the film fabricated using 99 nm particles. Our results demonstrated that delivery of anti-cancer drugs by use of nanotextured materials could be efficient in cancer therapy, and may offer new possibilities for cancer treatment.

The interactions of human ovarian cancer cells and nanotextured surfaces: cell attachment, viability and apoptosis studies

Understanding cell responses to the topography they are interacting with has a key role in designing surfaces due to the distinctiveness in the responses of different cell types. Thus far, a variety of surface textures have been fabricated, and the cellular responses of diversified cell lines to the surface textures have been assessed together with surface chemistry. However, the results reported in the literature are contradictory, and also not in-depth for inferring the relevance between cells, surface chemistry, and surface topography. Starting from this point of view, we focused on fabricating surfaces having extracellular matrix-like surface patterns and investigated the influence of patterning on human ovarian cancer cells. In this study, hemispherical protrusion-shaped, nanotextured surfaces were prepared via colloidal lithography and polymer casting methods using monolayer templates prepared from 280 nm, 210 nm, and 99 nm polystyrene particles and polydimethylsiloxane moulds. Then, the surface textures were transferred to biocompatible polycaprolactone films. After the characterisation of the surfaces via atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and contact angle measurements, the cellular response to topography was evaluated by cell attachment, viability, and apoptosis studies. The results were compared with non-textured surfaces and control plate wells. The results showed that human ovarian cancer cell attachment increased with nanotexturing, which suggests that nanotexturing may be a promising approach for cancer cell modulation, and may have the potential to introduce new strategies for cancer treatment.

Fabrication and characterisation studies of nanotextured polycaprolactone surfaces, and an investigation of their influence on human ovarian carcinoma cells.

The influence of nanotexturing of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) films upon human ovarian cancer cell attachment

In this study, we have produced nanotextured poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) films by using polystyrene (PS) particles as a template to make a polydimethylsiloxane mould against which PLGA is solvent cast. Biocompatible, biodegradable and nanotextured PLGA films were prepared with PS particles of diameter of 57, 99, 210, and 280 nm that produced domes of the same dimension in the PLGA surface. The effect of the particulate monolayer templating method was investigated to enable preparation of the films with uniformly ordered surface nanodomes. Cell attachment of a human ovarian cancer cell line (OVCAR3) alone and co-cultured with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) was evaluated on flat and topographically nano-patterned surfaces. Cell numbers were observed to increase on the nanotextured surfaces compared to non-textured surfaces both with OVCAR3 cultures and OVCAR3-MSC co-cultures at 24 and 48 h time points.

Combining the Masking and Scaffolding Modalities of Colloidal Crystal Templates: Plasmonic Nanoparticle Arrays with Multiple Periodicities

Surface patterns with prescribed structures and properties are highly desirable for a variety of applications. Increasing the heterogeneity of surface patterns is frequently required. This work opens a new avenue toward creating nanoparticle arrays with multiple periodicities by combining two generally separately applied modalities (i.e., scaffolding and masking) of a monolayer colloidal crystal (MCC) template. Highly ordered, loosely packed binary and ternary surface patterns are realized by a single-step thermal treatment of a gold thin-film-coated MCC and a nonclose-packed MCC template. Our approach enables control of the parameters defining these nanoscale binary and ternary surface patterns, such as particle size, shape, and composition, as well as the interparticle spacing. This technique enables preparation of well-defined binary and ternary surface patterns to achieve customized plasmonic properties. Moreover, with their easy programmability and excellent scalability, the binary and ternary surface patterns presented here could have valuable applications in nanophotonics and biomedicine. Specific examples include biosensing via surface-enhanced Raman scattering, fabrication of plasmonic-enhanced solar cells, and water splitting.

The influence of nanostructured materials on biointerfacial interactions

Control over biointerfacial interactions in vitro and in vivo is the key to many biomedical applications: from cell culture and diagnostic tools to drug delivery, biomaterials and regenerative medicine. The increasing use of nanostructured materials is placing a greater demand on improving our understanding of how these new materials influence biointerfacial interactions, including protein adsorption and subsequent cellular responses. A range of nanoscale material properties influence these interactions, and material toxicity. The ability to manipulate both material nanochemistry and nanotopography remains challenging in its own right, however, a more in-depth knowledge of the subsequent biological responses to these new materials must occur simultaneously if they are ever to be affective in the clinic. We highlight some of the key technologies used for fabrication of nanostructured materials, examine how nanostructured materials influence the behavior of proteins and cells at surfaces and provide details of important analytical techniques used in this context.

Dopamine-assisted rapid fabrication of nanoscale protein arrays by colloidal lithography

The development of cost-effective methodologies for the precise nanometer-scale positioning of biomolecules permits the low-cost production of various biofunctional devices for a range of biomedical and nanotechnological applications. By combining colloidal lithography and the mussel-inspired multifunctional polydopamine coating, we present a novel parallel benchtop method that allows rapid nanoscale patterning of proteins without the need for electrically powered equipment in the fabrication process. The PDA-immobilized binary nanopattern consisting of BSA surrounded by PLL-g-PEG is fabricated over a large area, and the integrity of the pattern is confirmed using AFM and FM.