Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 9
Cell Migration on Engineered
Microstructured Surfaces
Cells have a property to change their migratory behavior in response to topographical
features on the substrate. Advances in microfabrication have enabled fabrication
of well-defi ned microstructured surfaces to control cell migration. To develop better
techniques for controlling cell migration, cell-based assays for evaluating the
effectiveness of engineered microstructures are critical. Conventional approach is
based on a static analysis performed with cells that attain a temporally homogenous
state. This chapter introduces a dynamic analysis focusing on the transient changes
in the migratory behavior of cells migrating from a fl at surface to a microgrooved
surface, as an advanced approach to elucidate potential effects of engineered surfaces
on cell migration control. The analysis described here demonstrates a design concept
of cell repelling and trapping microgrooves. Groove width, depth and arrangement
are key design variables.
9.1
Introduction
Proper positioning of cells at a right timing by cell migration control is important for
developing biomaterials that effectively exploit cellular functions, particularly in the
fi elds of tissue engineering, and cancer diagnosis and treatment. Thus a wide variety
of cell migration control techniques have been advanced. The techniques are based
on the mechanism inherent in cells for changing migratory behavior adaptively in
response to various external stimuli (Friedl and Wolf
2010
). Soluble chemoattractants
(Zhao et al.
2005
) are recognized as major guiding cues that determine the migratory
direction of cells. Equally, insoluble factors are important for the regulation of cell
migratory behavior (Friedl and Wolf
2010
; Lim and Donahue
2007
).
Advances in micro- and nanofabrication techniques have enabled manufacturing
of well-defi ned model surfaces with various chemical, mechanical and topographical
properties. For instance, chemically modifi ed cell adhesive islands (see Chap.
8
for
more details) and also in other researches (Kumar et al.
2007
; Jiang et al.
2005
;
