Spatio-temporal control of cellular functions on micropatterned bio-functional thermoresponsive surfaces: Surface designs necessary for applications in regenerative medicine

Here, we newly created patterned bio-functional thermoresponsive surfaces immobilized with bioactive ligands for spatio-temporal control of cell adhesion, growth, or thermally induced detachment. We demonstrated that pattern-immobilized RGDS-insulin molecules dominated partial cell adhesion and growth on these surfaces under serum-free culture conditions. Spatio-temporal detachment of confluent cells from these surfaces was also achieved only by temperature-reduction, most likely due to the suppressed partial cell detachment by pattern-immobilized RGDS molecules. Additionally, the fabrication and non-invasive harvest of mesh-like tissue constructs were both successfully achieved using patterned bio-functional thermoresponsive surfaces. In conclusion, our newly created patterned bio-functional thermoresponsive surfaces immobilized with bioactive ligands would become an innovative tool for the creation of designed tissue constructs, applied for facilitated regenerative medicine.