MERLN Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine, Maastricht University, Universiteitssingel 40, Maastricht, 6229 ER, The Netherlands.
University Eye Clinic Maastricht UMC+, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, P. Debyelaan 25, Maastricht, 6229 HX, The Netherlands.
Adv Mater. 2022 Jul;34(27):e2200687. doi: 10.1002/adma.202200687. Epub 2022 May 29.
Tissue-culture-ware polystyrene is the gold standard for in vitro cell culture. While microengineering techniques can create advanced cell microenvironments in polystyrene, they require specialized equipment and reagents, which hinder their accessibility for most biological researchers. An economical and easily accessible method is developed and validated for fabricating microstructures directly in polystyrene with sizes approaching subcellular dimensions while requiring minimal processing time. The process involves deep ultraviolet irradiation through a shadow mask or ink pattern using inexpensive, handheld devices followed by selective chemical development with common reagents to generate micropatterns with depths/heights between 5 and 10 µm, which can be used to guide cell behavior. The remarkable straightforwardness of the process enables this class of microengineering techniques to be broadly accessible to diverse research communities.
组织培养聚苯乙烯是体外细胞培养的金标准。虽然微工程技术可以在聚苯乙烯中创造先进的细胞微环境，但它们需要专门的设备和试剂，这阻碍了大多数生物研究人员的使用。本研究开发并验证了一种经济且易于获取的方法，可直接在聚苯乙烯中制造接近亚细胞尺寸的微结构，同时所需的处理时间极短。该过程涉及使用廉价的手持式设备通过阴影掩模或油墨图案进行深紫外光照射，然后使用常见试剂进行选择性化学显影，以生成深度/高度在 5 到 10 微米之间的微图案，这些图案可用于指导细胞行为。该过程的显著简单性使得此类微工程技术能够广泛应用于不同的研究群体。
