Patterned parylene C for cell adhesion, spreading and alignment studies

•A facile way to fabricate parylene C patterns is proposed.•Plasma treatment of parylene C facilitates cell adhesion and spreading.•Parylene C pillars promote cell adhesion but not cell spreading.•Parylene C strips guide cell alignment growth.

Parylene C is widely used for insulating coating of implantable medical devices due to its unique properties of biocompatibility and biostability. However, the interaction between cells and parylene C is limited with as-deposited samples. A plasma treatment of the sample can significantly improve the cell adhesion on parylene C. To further improve the cell adhesion as well as other cell functions, we patterned parylene C into pillars and stripes by soft lithography and chemical vapor deposition. Such a method is flexible to produce parylene C patterns on different surfaces. The fabricated substrates have been tested to culture Hela cells, showing much improved adhesion on pillar arrays of parylene C. Our results also showed a strong effect of contact guidance for cells on stripes of parylene C, thereby proving the relevance of the method for cell adhesion, spreading and alignment studies.

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