Controlled Cell Attachment, Using Plasma Deposited Polymer Microstructures: A Novel Study of Cells-Substrate Interactions

Summary: Several actual developments in medical therapy are focussing on the potential of a surface-dependent selection and proliferation of special cell types. For an improvement of biocompatibility it is interesting to understand the interactions between cells and material surfaces in order to create devices with the respective characteristics. In this paper the possibility to isolate three different tumor cells lines are studied: HEK293, RINm5f and KYM-1. A procedure by means of plasma polymerization is demonstrated to create hydrophilic microstructures (precursor: AAc) on a hydrophobic (precursor: CHF3) substrate and shown to effectively select RINm5f cells. Moreover, by studying the interaction between culture media and deposited polymers, it is shown that Ca2+ ions and protein adsorption play a fundamental role in the cell-substrate adhesion and proliferation.