Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
There has also been very significant interest in the general role played by
physical micro- and nanoscale surface structuring of materials (of varying
degrees of order) with respect to cellular response. This property is especially
critical with respect to materials employed in medical implant and
extracorporeal device technology. The literature is replete with studies of a
wide variety of cells. We concisely review this work here, but leave
consideration of such research on neurons, including surface patterning, until
later chapters.
An extensive battery of techniques has been employed to create 2D and 3D
nanostructured features such as photolithography, focused ion beam litho-
graphy, e-beam lithography, nano-imprint lithography, interference litho-
graphy, reactive ion etching, glancing angle deposition, physical vapor
deposition, electro-spinning, self-assembly patterning, colloidal lithography,
polymer de-mixing, co-block phase separation, two-photon polymerization and
chemical etching or oxidation. Examples of these approaches are given in
references 54 and 55. Features instigated in substrates include gratings, posts,
pits, and island geometries in both the micrometer and nanometer range (see,
for example, Figure 2.15). However, these techniques each have their own
merits and limitations which can vary with respect to material, geometry, cost
and surface area coverage. If the main application is biomaterials research,
important considerations will be processing over relatively large surface areas
and overall cost-effectiveness. These criteria stand in sharp contrast to the
fundamental research on surface-cell behavior alluded to in the previous
section.
d n 4 t 3 n g | 0
n 3 .
(b) Nano-posts
(a) Nano-gratings
(c) Nano-pits
(d) Nano-islands
Figure 2.15
Schematic of typical surface topographies produced for study of cell
adherence and behavior.
 
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