Steps toward a model nanotopography.

A natural lithography technique is employed to create an irregular, submonolayer colloidal topography. Epitenon cells were cultured on these colloidal surfaces, and cell morphology investigations using scanning electron microscropy were conducted. Preliminary experiments brought into question the stability of the colloidal nanotopography, and it was unsure if the surface was presented to cells as a static structure. Investigations using secondary electron and backscattered electron imaging, and also X-ray microanalysis, indicated that the colloidal structure was in fact stable, and cells were capable of direct interactions at the peripheral membrane with the colloids.