Topographical control of neurite extension on stripe-patterned polymer films

Controlling cell responses to material surfaces is important for tissue engineering. Topographical property on material surfaces can play a crucial role in directing nerve regeneration. We prepared regular stripe-patterned (groove-ridge pattern) polymer film by self-organization in order to control direction of neurite extension. Neural cells from cerebral cortex of embryonic day-14 mice were cultured on the film coated with poly-l-lysine. Here, we describe a complex and unusual contact guidance dependent on the pattern feature size. The neurites grew perpendicular to wide groove of 12.7 μm and wide ridge of 4.3 μm but parallel to narrow grooves (6.1 and 8.4 μm) and narrow ridge (2.2 and 3.6 μm). The neurites sprouted parallel to the narrow groove but uniformly on the wide groove. The emersion of neurites was suppressed and the length of neurites was longer compared with on a flat film. These results are of interest to understanding contact guidance and designing scaffold for neural network formation.