Tailored substrates for studies of attached cell culture

Substrates for studies of the interactions of attached cells with extracellular matrix components are often prepared by allowing a protein to adsorb from solution onto a glass or polystyrene substrate. This method is simple and effective for many studies, but it can fail in cases that require rigorous control over the structure and composition of adsorbed protein. Self-assembled monolayers formed by the spontaneous ordering of terminally functionalized alkanethiols onto a gold substrate are a class of well-ordered substrates and provide a convenient method for tailoring substrates with ligands, proteins and other groups. Methods that can pattern the monolayers provide a general strategy to create substrates that control the size, shape and spacing of attached cells. This review illustrates recent work that has used these methods of surface chemistry to create tailored substrates for studies in cell biology.