Engineering of silicon surfaces at the micro- and nanoscales for cell adhesion and migration control

Vicente Torres-Costa¹, Gonzalo Martínez-Muñoz², Vanessa Sánchez-Vaquero³, Álvaro Muñoz-Noval¹, Laura González-Méndez³, Esther Punzón-Quijorna^1,4, Darío Gallach-Pérez¹, Miguel Manso-Silván¹, Aurelio Climent-Font^1,4, Josefa P García-Ruiz³, Raúl J Martín-Palma^1
1Department of Applied Physics, ²Department of Computer Science, ³Department of Molecular Biology, ⁴Centre for Micro Analysis of Materials, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Abstract: The engineering of surface patterns is a powerful tool for analyzing cellular communication factors involved in the processes of adhesion, migration, and expansion, which can have a notable impact on therapeutic applications including tissue engineering. In this regard, the main objective of this research was to fabricate patterned and textured surfaces at micron- and nanoscale levels, respectively, with very different chemical and topographic characteristics to control cell–substrate interactions. For this task, one-dimensional (1-D) and two-dimensional (2-D) patterns combining silicon and nanostructured porous silicon were engineered by ion beam irradiation and subsequent electrochemical etch. The experimental results show that under the influence of chemical and morphological stimuli, human mesenchymal stem cells polarize and move directionally toward or away from the particular stimulus. Furthermore, a computational model was developed aiming at understanding cell behavior by reproducing the surface distribution and migration of human mesenchymal stem cells observed experimentally.

Keywords: surface patterns, silicon, hMSCs, ion-beam patterning

A Letter to the Editor has been received and published for this article.