TY - JOUR
T1 - Direct deep UV lithography to micropattern PMMA for stem cell culture
AU - Samal, Pinak
AU - Kumar Samal, Jay Rabindra
AU - Rho, Hoon Suk
AU - van Beurden, Denis
AU - van Blitterswijk, Clemens
AU - Truckenmüller, Roman
AU - Giselbrecht, Stefan
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge financial support by the Dutch Province of Limburg (program ‘Limburg INvesteert in haar Kenniseconomie/LINK’), Stichting De Weijerhorst , Kootstra Talent Fellowship and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research . Further, the authors gratefully acknowledge the Gravitation Program “Materials Driven Regeneration,” funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research ( 024.003.013 ). The authors acknowledge help from Professor Alfonso Martinez-Arias and Tina Balayo for setting up of the mESC culture and for the TCF/LEF::mCherry mESCs. Part of the schematics used in this manuscript were created with BioRender.com . The authors acknowledge help from Dr. Eva Gubbins for UV-VIS experiments.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors
PY - 2023/10/1
Y1 - 2023/10/1
N2 - Microengineering is increasingly being used for controlling the microenvironment of stem cells. Here, a novel method for fabricating structures with subcellular dimensions in commonly available thermoplastic poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is shown. Microstructures are produced in PMMA substrates using Deep Ultraviolet lithography, and the effect of different developers is described. Microgrooves fabricated in PMMA are used for the neuronal differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) directly on the polymer. The fabrication of 3D, curvilinear patterned surfaces is also highlighted. A 3D multilayered microfluidic chip is fabricated using this method, which includes a porous polycarbonate (PC) membrane as cell culture substrate. Besides directly manufacturing PMMA-based microfluidic devices, an application of the novel approach is shown where a reusable PMMA master is created for replicating microstructures with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). As an application example, microchannels fabricated in PDMS are used to selectively expose mESCs to soluble factors in a localized manner. The described microfabrication process offers a remarkably simple method to fabricate for example multifunctional topographical or microfluidic culture substrates outside cleanrooms, thereby using inexpensive and widely accessible equipment. The versatility of the underlying process could find various applications also in optical systems and surface modification of biomedical implants.
AB - Microengineering is increasingly being used for controlling the microenvironment of stem cells. Here, a novel method for fabricating structures with subcellular dimensions in commonly available thermoplastic poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is shown. Microstructures are produced in PMMA substrates using Deep Ultraviolet lithography, and the effect of different developers is described. Microgrooves fabricated in PMMA are used for the neuronal differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) directly on the polymer. The fabrication of 3D, curvilinear patterned surfaces is also highlighted. A 3D multilayered microfluidic chip is fabricated using this method, which includes a porous polycarbonate (PC) membrane as cell culture substrate. Besides directly manufacturing PMMA-based microfluidic devices, an application of the novel approach is shown where a reusable PMMA master is created for replicating microstructures with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). As an application example, microchannels fabricated in PDMS are used to selectively expose mESCs to soluble factors in a localized manner. The described microfabrication process offers a remarkably simple method to fabricate for example multifunctional topographical or microfluidic culture substrates outside cleanrooms, thereby using inexpensive and widely accessible equipment. The versatility of the underlying process could find various applications also in optical systems and surface modification of biomedical implants.
KW - Deep UV lithography
KW - Microfluidics
KW - Microstructures
KW - Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)
KW - Stem cell patterning
U2 - 10.1016/j.mtbio.2023.100779
DO - 10.1016/j.mtbio.2023.100779
M3 - Article
SN - 2590-0064
VL - 22
JO - Materials today. Bio
JF - Materials today. Bio
IS - 1
M1 - 100779
ER -