Expanding Biomaterial Surface Topographical Design Space through Natural Surface Reproduction

Surface topography is a tool to endow biomaterials with bioactive properties. However, the large number of possible designs makes it challenging to find the optimal surface structure to induce a specific cell response. The TopoChip platform is currently the largest collection of topographies with 2176 in silico designed microtopographies. Still, it is exploring only a small part of the design space due to design algorithm limitations and the surface engineering strategy. Inspired by the diversity of natural surfaces, it is assessed as to what extent the topographical design space and consequently the resulting cellular responses can be expanded using natural surfaces. To this end, 26 plant and insect surfaces are replicated in polystyrene and their surface properties are quantified using white light interferometry. Through machine-learning algorithms, it is demonstrated that natural surfaces extend the design space of the TopoChip, which coincides with distinct morphological and focal adhesion profiles in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonization. Furthermore, differentiation experiments reveal the strong potential of the holy lotus to improve osteogenesis in MSCs. In the future, the design algorithms will be trained with the results obtained by natural surface imprint experiments to explore the bioactive properties of novel surface topographies.