Cell adhesion micropatterning by plasma treatment of alginate coated surfaces

Air plasma treatment, coupled to a masking technique, was used to promote micropatterned cell adhesion onto a cell-adhesion-resistant alginate coated surface. L-929 mouse fibroblasts were successfully confined into 50 mum diameter cell-adhesive areas patterned inside a cell-resistant layer. The plasma treatment performed, albeit very mild, destroys the molecular architecture of the hydrophilic polysaccharide coating, leading to an enhancement of protein adsorption and hence of cell-adhesion. Both the cell-adhesion-resistant and the cell-adhesive regions are hydrophilic, yet they show a completely different behavior towards cells. Thus, they are a very interesting subject in the study of interfacial interactions in aqueous media, and, in particular, on the mechanisms of bio-adhesion at hydrophilic surfaces.