Methods for Nano/Micropatterning of Substrates: Toward Stem Cells Differentiation.

Micro- and nanoengineering of materials offer novel technologies and serve as an interface between material sciences and biomedical nanotechnology. Various techniques are used for the engineering of polymers, and it allows the precise orientation of biomolecules with designed nanoregions in a substrate, with defined sizes and continuity offering well featured substrate topographies. Methods such as the electron beam lithography coupled with microcontact printing have been applied for the fabrication of high resolution surface features that are smaller than the size of a cell. This review elaborates more deeply on the different methods used for the fabrication of patterned surfaces such as the photolithography, electron beam lithography, microcontact printing, soft lithography, capillary force lithography, and patterning of electrospun fibers. The nanoengineered substrates may have the ability to influence the differentiation of stem cells to specific lineages and here we survey a few details on the influence of surface topology and its potential for tissue regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]