Fluorescent aromatic platforms for cell patterning

This paper describes a simple experimental method of patterning fluorescent organic dyes, fluorescein, and rhodamine on gold substrates by microcontact printing techniques. The development of this step-by-step protocol has allowed us to prepare striped and squared micropatterns with poly( ethylene glycol) ( PEG) linkers terminated by these fluorophores using a fast, easy, and inexpensive technique. Although the rest of the surface was covered with aliphatic molecules ( methyl terminated), human fibroblasts demonstrated an unexpected response, aligning themselves according to the aromatic patterns, despite the presence of PEG, which is a cell resistant molecule, in the fluorescent regions.