Multimaterial 3D Laser Printing of Cell-Adhesive and Cell-Repellent Hydrogels

Here, a straightforward method is reported for manufacturing 3D microstructured cell-adhesive and cell-repellent multimaterials using two-photon laser printing. Compared to existing strategies, this approach offers bottom-up molecular control, high customizability, and rapid and precise 3D fabrication. The printable cell-adhesive polyethylene glycol (PEG) based material includes an Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) containing peptide synthesized through solid-phase peptide synthesis, allowing for precise control of the peptide design. Remarkably, minimal amounts of RGD peptide (< 0.1 wt%) suffice for imparting cell-adhesiveness, while maintaining identical mechanical properties in the 3D printed microstructures to those of the cell-repellent, PEG-based material. Fluorescent labeling of the RGD peptide facilitates visualization of its presence in cell-adhesive areas. To demonstrate the broad applicability of the system, the fabrication of cell-adhesive 2.5D and 3D structures is shown, fostering the adhesion of fibroblast cells within these architectures. Thus, this approach allows for the printing of high-resolution, true 3D structures suitable for diverse applications, including cellular studies in complex environments.

Critical adhesion areas of cells on micro-nanopatterns

Cell adhesion to extracellular matrices (ECM) is critical to physiological and pathological processes as well as biomedical and biotechnological applications. It has been known that a cell can adhere on an adhesive microisland only over a critical size. But no publication has concerned critical adhesion areas of cells on microislands with nanoarray decoration. Herein, we fabricated a series of micro-nanopatterns with different microisland sizes and arginine-glycine-aspartate (RGD) nanospacings on a nonfouling poly(ethylene glycol) background. Besides reproducing that nanospacing of RGD, a ligand of its receptor integrin (a membrane protein), significantly influences specific cell adhesion on bioactive nanoarrays, we confirmed that the concept of critical adhesion area originally suggested in studies of cells on micropatterns was justified also on the micro-nanopatterns, yet the latter exhibited more characteristic behaviors of cell adhesion. We found increased critical adhesion areas of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) on nanoarrayed microislands with increased RGD nanospacings. However, the numbers of nanodots with respect to the critical adhesion areas were not a constant. A unified interpretation was then put forward after combining nonspecific background adhesion and specific cell adhesion. We further carried out the asymptotic analysis of a series of micro-nanopatterned surfaces to obtain the effective RGD nanospacing on unpatterned free surfaces with densely grafted RGD, which could be estimated nonzero but has never been revealed previously without the assistance of the micro-nanopatterning techniques and the corresponding analysis.

ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

Supplementary materials and methods (details of fabrication of micro-nanopatterns), and supplementary results (selective adhesion or localization of hMSCs on nanoarrayed microislands with non-fouling background, calculation of critical number of integrin-ligand binding N*, etc.) are available in the online version of this article at 10.1007/s12274-021-3711-6.

Biosensors for Studies on Adhesion-Mediated Cellular Responses to Their Microenvironment

Cells interact with their microenvironment by constantly sensing mechanical and chemical cues converting them into biochemical signals. These processes allow cells to respond and adapt to changes in their environment, and are crucial for most cellular functions. Understanding the mechanism underlying this complex interplay at the cell-matrix interface is of fundamental value to decipher key biochemical and mechanical factors regulating cell fate. The combination of material science and surface chemistry aided in the creation of controllable environments to study cell mechanosensing and mechanotransduction. Biologically inspired materials tailored with specific bioactive molecules, desired physical properties and tunable topography have emerged as suitable tools to study cell behavior. Among these materials, synthetic cell interfaces with built-in sensing capabilities are highly advantageous to measure biophysical and biochemical interaction between cells and their environment. In this review, we discuss the design of micro and nanostructured biomaterials engineered not only to mimic the structure, properties, and function of the cellular microenvironment, but also to obtain quantitative information on how cells sense and probe specific adhesive cues from the extracellular domain. This type of responsive biointerfaces provides a readout of mechanics, biochemistry, and electrical activity in real time allowing observation of cellular processes with molecular specificity. Specifically designed sensors based on advanced optical and electrochemical readout are discussed. We further provide an insight into the emerging role of multifunctional micro and nanosensors to control and monitor cell functions by means of material design.

High-throughput micro-nanostructuring by microdroplet inkjet printing

The production of micrometer-sized structures comprised of nanoparticles in defined patterns and densities is highly important in many fields, ranging from nano-optics to biosensor technologies and biomaterials. A well-established method to fabricate quasi-hexagonal patterns of metal nanoparticles is block copolymer micelle nanolithography, which relies on the self-assembly of metal-loaded micelles on surfaces by a dip-coating or spin-coating process. Using this method, the spacing of the nanoparticles is controlled by the size of the micelles and by the coating conditions. Whereas block copolymer micelle nanolithography is a high-throughput method for generating well-ordered nanoparticle patterns at the nanoscale, so far it has been inefficient in generating a hierarchical overlay structure at the micrometer scale. Here, we show that by combining block copolymer micelle nanolithography with inkjet printing, hierarchical patterns of gold nanoparticles in the form of microstructures can be achieved in a high-throughput process. Inkjet printing was used to generate droplets of the micelle solution on surfaces, resulting in printed circles that contain patterns of gold nanoparticles with an interparticle spacing between 25 and 42 nm. We tested this method on different silicon and nickel-titanium surfaces and the generated patterns were found to depend on the material type and surface topography. Based on the presented strategy, we were able to achieve patterning times of a few seconds and produce quasi-hexagonal micro-nanopatterns of gold nanoparticles on smooth surfaces. Hence, this method is a high-throughput method that can be used to coat surfaces with nanoparticles in a user-defined pattern at the micrometer scale. As the nanoparticles provide a chemical contrast on the surface, they can be further functionalized and are therefore highly relevant for biological applications.

Investigating Focal Adhesion Substructures by Localization Microscopy

Cells rely on focal adhesions (FAs) to carry out a variety of important tasks, including motion, environmental sensing, and adhesion to the extracellular matrix. Although attaining a fundamental characterization of FAs is a compelling goal, their extensive complexity and small size, which can be below the diffraction limit, have hindered a full understanding. In this study we have used single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) to investigate integrin β3 and paxillin in rat embryonic fibroblasts growing on two different extracellular matrix-representing substrates (i.e., fibronectin-coated substrates and specifically biofunctionalized nanopatterned substrates). To quantify the substructure of FAs, we developed a clustering method based on expectation maximization of a Gaussian mixture that accounts for localization uncertainty and background. Analysis of our SMLM data indicates that the structures within FAs, characterized as a Gaussian mixture, typically have areas between 0.01 and 1 μm2, contain 10-100 localizations, and can exhibit substantial eccentricity. Our approach based on SMLM opens new avenues for studying structural and functional biology of molecular assemblies that display substantial varieties in size, shape, and density.

Exploring the Role of RGD-Recognizing Integrins in Cancer

Integrins are key regulators of communication between cells and with their microenvironment. Eight members of the integrin superfamily recognize the tripeptide motif Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) within extracelluar matrix (ECM) proteins. These integrins constitute an important subfamily and play a major role in cancer progression and metastasis via their tumor biological functions. Such transmembrane adhesion and signaling receptors are thus recognized as promising and well accessible targets for novel diagnostic and therapeutic applications for directly attacking cancer cells and their fatal microenvironment. Recently, specific small peptidic and peptidomimetic ligands as well as antibodies binding to distinct integrin subtypes have been developed and synthesized as new drug candidates for cancer treatment. Understanding the distinct functions and interplay of integrin subtypes is a prerequisite for selective intervention in integrin-mediated diseases. Integrin subtype-specific ligands labelled with radioisotopes or fluorescent molecules allows the characterization of the integrin patterns in vivo and later the medical intervention via subtype specific drugs. The coating of nanoparticles, larger proteins, or encapsulating agents by integrin ligands are being explored to guide cytotoxic reagents directly to the cancer cell surface. These ligands are currently under investigation in clinical studies for their efficacy in interference with tumor cell adhesion, migration/invasion, proliferation, signaling, and survival, opening new treatment approaches in personalized medicine.