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

PLoS One. 2019 Jun 25;14(6):e0218850. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0218850. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

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.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Astrocytes / cytology*
  • Astrocytes / drug effects*
  • Biocompatible Materials / chemistry
  • Calcium Signaling
  • Cell Culture Techniques / instrumentation
  • Cell Culture Techniques / methods
  • Cell Differentiation / drug effects
  • Cell Line
  • Humans
  • Materials Testing
  • Nerve Net / cytology
  • Nerve Net / drug effects
  • Polymers / chemistry
  • Polymers / pharmacology*
  • Silicon Dioxide
  • Surface Properties
  • Xylenes / chemistry
  • Xylenes / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Biocompatible Materials
  • Polymers
  • Xylenes
  • parylene
  • Silicon Dioxide

Grants and funding

Funding support was provided to CPU from The Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden fund (15-UOA-032) (Website:https://royalsociety.org.nz/what-we-do/funds-and-opportunities/marsden). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.