Evaluation of parylene derivatives for use as biomaterials for human astrocyte cell patterning

• Published in: PloS one 2019-06, Vol.14 (6), p.e0218850-e0218850
• Main Authors: Raos, Brad J, Simpson, M Cather, Doyle, Colin S, Graham, E Scott, Unsworth, Charles P
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Astrocytes - cytology; Astrocytes - drug effects; Biocompatible Materials - chemistry; Biological products; Biology and Life Sciences; Biomaterials; Biomedical materials; Brain research; Calcium Signaling; Cell culture; Cell Culture Techniques - instrumentation; Cell Culture Techniques - methods; Cell Differentiation - drug effects; Cell Line; Chemical properties; Derivatives; Engineering; Engineering and Technology; Fabrication; Fibroblasts; Glia; Humans; Lasers; Materials Testing; Micromachining; Nanotechnology; Nerve Net - cytology; Nerve Net - drug effects; Nervous system; Neural networks; Neurosciences; Organic chemistry; Parylenes; Pattern formation; Physical properties; Physical Sciences; Polymer industry; Polymers; Polymers - chemistry; Polymers - pharmacology; Research and Analysis Methods; Silicon Dioxide; Substrates; Surface Properties; Technology; Xylenes - chemistry; Xylenes - pharmacology
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0218850

Cell patterning is becoming increasingly popular in neuroscience because it allows for the control in the location and connectivity of cells. A recently developed cell patterning technology uses patterns of an organic polymer, parylene-C, on a background of SiO2. When cells are cultured on the parylene-C/SiO2 substrate they conform to the underlying parylene-C geometry. Parylene-C is, however, just one member of a family of parylene polymers that have varying chemical and physical properties. In this work, we investigate whether two commercially available mainstream parylene derivatives, parylene-D, parylene-N and a more recent parylene derivative, parylene-HT to determine if they enable higher fidelity hNT astrocyte cell patterning compared to parylene-C. We demonstrate that all parylene derivatives are compatible with the existing laser fabrication method. We then demonstrate that parylene-HT, parylene-D and parylene-N are suitable for use as an hNT astrocyte cell attractive substrate and result in an equal quality of patterning compared to parylene-C. This work supports the use of alternative parylene derivatives for applications where their different physical and chemical properties are more suitable.