Thermally responsive polymer-grafted surfaces facilitate patterned cell seeding and co-culture

Tissue engineering constructs that effectively duplicate natural tissue function must also maintain tissue architectural and organization features, particularly the integration of multiple cell types preserving distinct, integrated phenotypes. Cell-cell communication and biochemical cross-talk have been shown to be essential for the maintenance of differentiated cell functions in tissues and organs. Current limitations of cell-culture hinder progress in understanding the features and dynamics of heterotypic cell communication pathways critical to developing more sophisticated or effective tissue-engineered devices. We describe a method to conveniently electron-beam pattern cell culture surfaces with thermo-responsive polymer chemistry that exploits changes in cell-polymer adhesive interactions over a temperature window amenable for high-throughput cell culture. Cells seeded on these patterned surfaces at 20 degreesC adhere only to surface areas lacking thermo-responsive grafting chemistry: grafted domains at 20 degreesC are hydrophilic and non-cell adhesive. The culture temperature is then increased to 37 degreesC, collapsing the hydrated grafted chemistry. A second cell type is added to the culture and adheres only to these exposed relatively hydrophobic grafted patterns. Both cell types can then be effectively co-cultured at 37 degreesC under multiple conditions. Long-term cell pattern fidelity and differentiated cell functions characteristic of each co-planar cell type are observed. This method is simple and has few limitations, compared with other existing co-culture methods. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.