Substrate-Bound Protein Gradients for Cell Culture Fabricated by Microfluidic Networks and Microcontact Printing
Anne C. von Philipsborn1,
Susanne Lang2,
Zhongxiang Jiang1,
Friedrich Bonhoeffer2, and
Martin Bastmeyer1*
1Universitaet Karlsruhe (TH), Zoologisches Institut, Zell- und Neurobiologie, Haid-und-Neu-Strasse 9, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.
2Max-Planck-Institut für Entwicklungsbiologie, Spemannstrasse 35, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany.
Abstract:
Graded distributions of proteins are pivotal for many signaling processes during development, such as morphogenesis, cell migration, and axon guidance. Here, we describe a technique to fabricate substrate-bound stepwise protein gradients by means of a microfluidic network etched into a silicon wafer with an array of parallel 14-micrometer–wide channels, which can be filled with a series of arbitrarily chosen protein solutions. In a subsequent microcontact printing step, the protein pattern is transferred onto a surface and is used as a substrate for cell culture. Cellular responses to a defined microscopic pattern of a protein, such as guided axonal outgrowth and directed migration, cell polarization, changes in morphology, and signaling, can be thus studied in a controlled in vitro environment.
*Corresponding author. E-mail, bastmeyer{at}bio.uka.de
