Effects of substrate conductivity on cell morphogenesis and proliferation using tailored, atomic layer deposition-grown ZnO thin films

• Published in: Scientific reports 2015-04, Vol.5 (1), p.9974-9974, Article 9974
• Main Authors: Choi, Won Jin, Jung, Jongjin, Lee, Sujin, Chung, Yoon Jang, Yang, Cheol-Soo, Lee, Young Kuk, Lee, You-Seop, Park, Joung Kyu, Ko, Hyuk Wan, Lee, Jeong-O
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 13/51; 14/19; 147/135; 147/3; 631/80/79/2027; 631/80/79/2066; 639/301/357/551; Adhesion; Cell adhesion; Cell Adhesion - drug effects; Cell Line; Cell proliferation; Cell Proliferation - drug effects; Cell Survival - drug effects; Conductivity; Electric Conductivity; Electrical conductivity; Electrostatic properties; Extracellular Matrix - metabolism; Glioblastoma; Glioblastoma cells; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Inactivation; Ions - chemistry; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Morphogenesis; multidisciplinary; Photovoltaic cells; Physical characteristics; Science; Static Electricity; Substrates; Surface Properties; Thin films; Zinc - chemistry; Zinc - toxicity; Zinc Oxide - chemistry
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep09974

We demonstrate that ZnO films grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) can be employed as a substrate to explore the effects of electrical conductivity on cell adhesion, proliferation and morphogenesis. ZnO substrates with precisely tunable electrical conductivity were fabricated on glass substrates using ALD deposition. The electrical conductivity of the film increased linearly with increasing duration of the ZnO deposition cycle (thickness), whereas other physical characteristics, such as surface energy and roughness, tended to saturate at a certain value. Differences in conductivity dramatically affected the behavior of SF295 glioblastoma cells grown on ZnO films, with high conductivity (thick) ZnO films causing growth arrest and producing SF295 cell morphologies distinct from those cultured on insulating substrates. Based on simple electrostatic calculations, we propose that cells grown on highly conductive substrates may strongly adhere to the substrate without focal-adhesion complex formation, owing to the enhanced electrostatic interaction between cells and the substrate. Thus, the inactivation of focal adhesions leads to cell proliferation arrest. Taken together, the work presented here confirms that substrates with high conductivity disturb the cell-substrate interaction, producing cascading effects on cellular morphogenesis and disrupting proliferation and suggests that ALD-grown ZnO offers a single-variable method for uniquely tailoring conductivity.