Nanotopographical stimulation of mechanotransduction and changes in interphase centromere positioning

We apply a recently developed method for controlling the spreading of cultured cells using electron beam lithography (EBL) to create polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) substrata with repeating nanostructures. There are indications that the reduced cell spreading on these substrata, compared with planar PMMA, results from a reduced adhesivity since there are fewer adhesive structures and fewer of their associated stress fibres. The reduced cell spreading also results in a reduced nuclear area and a closer spacing of centrosomes within the nucleus, suggesting that the tension applied to the nucleus is reduced as would be expected from the reduction in stress fibres. In order to obtain further evidence for this, we have used specific inhibitors of components of the cytoskeleton and have found effects comparable with those induced by the new substrata. We have also obtained evidence that these subtrata result in downregulation of gene expression which suggests that this may be due to the changed tension on the nucleus: an intriguing possibility that merits further investigation.