Response of MG63 osteoblast-like cells to ordered nanotopographies fabricated using colloidal self-assembly and glancing angle deposition.

Ordered surface nanostructures have attracted much attention in different fields including biomedical engineering because of their potential to study the size effect on cellular response and modulation of cell fate. However, the ability to fabricate large-area ordered nanostructures is typically limited due to high costs and low speed of fabrication. Herein, highly ordered nanostructures with large surface areas (>1.5 × 1.5 cm(2)) were fabricated using a combination of facile techniques including colloidal self-assembly, colloidal lithography, and glancing angle deposition (GLAD). An ordered tantalum (Ta) pattern with 60-nm-height was generated using colloidal lithography. A monolayer of colloidal crystal, i.e., hexagonal close packed 720 nm polystyrene particles, was self-assembled and used as a mask. Ta patterns were subsequently generated by evaporation of Ta through the mask. The feature size was further increased by 100 or 200 nm using GLAD, resulting in the fabrication of four different surfaces (FLAT, Ta60, GLAD100, and GLAD200). Cell adhesion, proliferation, and mineralization of MG63 osteoblast-like cells were investigated on these ordered nanostructures over a 1 week period. Our results showed that cell adhesion, spreading, focal adhesion formation, and filopodia formation of the MG63 osteoblast-like cells were inhibited on the GLAD surfaces, especially the initial (24 h) attachment, resulting in a lower cell density on the GLAD surfaces. After 1 week culture, alkaline phosphatase activity and the amount of Ca was higher on the GLAD surfaces compared with Ta60 and FLAT controls, suggesting that the GLAD surfaces facilitate differentiation of osteoblasts. This study demonstrates that ordered Ta nanotopographies synthesized by combining colloidal lithography with GLAD can improve the mineralization of osteoblast-like cells providing a new platform for biomaterials and bone tissue engineering.

Modulation of human mesenchymal stem cell behavior on ordered tantalum nanotopographies fabricated using colloidal lithography and glancing angle deposition.

Ordered surface nanostructures have attracted much attention in biotechnology and biomedical engineering because of their potential to modulate cell-surface interactions in a controllable manner. However, the ability to fabricate large area ordered nanostructures is limited because of high costs and low speed of fabrication. Here, we have fabricated ordered nanostructures with large surface areas (1.5 × 1.5 cm(2)) using a combination of facile techniques including colloidal self-assembly, colloidal lithography and glancing angle deposition (GLAD). Polystyrene (722 nm) colloids were self-assembled into a hexagonally close-packed (hcp) crystal array at the water-air interface, transferred on a biocompatible tantalum (Ta) surface and used as a mask to generate an ordered Ta pattern. The Ta was deposited by sputter coating through the crystal mask creating approximately 60-nm-high feature sizes. The feature size was further increased by approximately 200-nm-height respectively using GLAD, resulting in the fabrication of four different surfaces (FLAT, Ta60, GLAD100, and GLAD200). Cell adhesion, proliferation, and osteogenic differentiation of primary human adipose-derived stem cells (hADSCs) were studied on these ordered nanostructures for up to 2 weeks. Our results suggested that cell spreading, focal adhesion formation, and filopodia extension of hADSCs were inhibited on the GLAD surfaces, while the growth rate was similar between each surface. Immunostaining for type I collagen (COL1) and osteocalcin (OC) showed that there was higher osteogenic components deposited on the GLAD surfaces compared to the Ta60 and FLAT surfaces after 1 week of osteogenic culture. After 2 weeks of osteogenic culture, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and the amount of calcium was higher on the GLAD surfaces. In addition, osteoblast-like cells were confluent on Ta60 and FLAT surfaces, whereas the GLAD surfaces were not fully covered suggesting that the cell-cell interactions are stronger than cell-substrate interactions on GLAD surfaces. Visible extracellular matrix deposits decorated the porous surface can be found on the GLAD surfaces. Depth profiling of surface components using a new Ar cluster source and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed that deposited extracellular matrix on GLAD surfaces is rich in nitrogen. The fabricated ordered surface nanotopographies have potential to be applied in diverse fields, and demonstrate that the behavior of human stem cells can be directed on these ordered nanotopographies, providing new knowledge for applications in biomaterials and tissue engineering.