Cellular Response to Non-contacting Nanoscale Sublayer: Cells Sense Several Nanometer Mechanical Property

Cell adhesion is influenced not only from the surface property of materials but also from the mechanical properties of the nanometer sublayer just below the surface. In this study, we fabricated a well-defined diblock polymer brush composed of 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) and 2-aminoethyl methacrylate (AEMA). The underlying layer of poly(MPC) is a highly viscous polymer, and the surface layer of poly(AEMA) is a cell-adhesive cationic polymer. The adhesion of L929 mouse fibroblasts was examined on the diblock polymer brush to see the effect of a non-contacting underlying polymer layer on the cell-adhesion behavior. Cells could sense the viscoelasticity of the underlying layers at the nanometer level, although the various fabricated diblock polymer brushes had the same surface property and the functional group. Thus, we found a new factor which could control cell spread at the nanometer level, and this insight would be important to design nanoscale biomaterials and interfaces.