Adhesion Anisotropy Substrate with Janus Micropillar Arrays Guides Cell Polarized Migration and Division Cycle

Cell migration is a ubiquitous and important cell behaviour. Construction of an interface that can guide and induce cell migration is of significance for studying cell behaviour and carrying out the transplantation of biological materials. Herein, we prepare a micropillar array by precise modification of two different functional groups on each micropillar unit to obtain a "Janus" structure with anisotropic cell-adhesion properties. This anisotropic structure was capable of influencing the focal adhesion pathway of melanoma cells as shown by transcriptome sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. This the anisotropic substrate can considerably affect the migration ability of highly invasive melanoma cells. The anisotropic structure with Janus micropillar arrays could also affect the cell division cycle. The experiments showed that the anisotropic microstructures regulate cell migration and are thus of use in the research of cell migration without drug stimulation.