Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Rapid Communication
  • Published:

Mussel-inspired interfacial ultrathin films for cellular adhesion on the wrinkled surfaces of hydrophobic fluids

Polymer Journal volume 55, pages 1231–1236 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

The cellular scaffold plays a crucial role in regulating cellular behavior, and controlling its mechanical properties is important in the field of regenerative medicine. In this study, common silicone oil was employed as the cellular scaffold and coated with a polymeric ultrathin film at the oil/water interface. Inspired by mussel adhesion, polydopamine ultrathin films were formed at the silicone oil/water interface even in neutral solution. The MCF-7 cells successfully adhered to the oil/water interface without aggregation during cell growth. Interfacial wrinkles were induced by changes in the oil volume and the compressive stress, and the MCF-7 cells adhered to the oil/water interface and were arranged along the wrinkles. These polydopamine interfacial films provide new opportunities for investigating the relationships between toughness and patterns for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

References

  1. Reilly GC, Engler AJ. Intrinsic extracellular matrix properties regulate stem cell differentiation. J Biomech. 2010;43:55–62.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Ariga K, Minami K, Ebara M, Nakanishi J. What are the emerging concepts and challenges in NANO? Nanoarchitectonics, hand-operating nanotechnology and mechanobiology. Polym J. 2016;48:371–89.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Mahmud G, Campbell CJ, Bishop KJM, Komarova YA, Chaga O, Soh S, et al. Directing cell motions on micropatterned ratchets. Nat Phys. 2009;5:606–12.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Sun Y, Duffy R, Lee A, Feinberg AW. Optimizing the structure and contractility of engineered skeletal muscle thin films. Acta Biomater. 2013;9:7885–94.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Yoon S, Kim JA, Lee SH, Kim M, Park TH. Droplet-based microfluidic system to form and separate multicellular spheroids using magnetic nanoparticles. Lab Chip. 2013;13:1522.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Shimura R, Abe H, Yabu H, Chien M-F, Inoue C. Biomimetic antibiofouling oil infused honeycomb films fabricated using breath figures. Polym J. 2021;53:713–7.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Keese CR, Giaever I. Cell growth on liquid interfaces: role of surface active compounds. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 1983;80:5622–6.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Minami K, Mori T, Nakanishi W, Shigi N, Nakanishi J, Hill JP, et al. Suppression of myogenic differentiation of mammalian cells caused by fluidity of a liquid–liquid interface. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2017;9:30553–60.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Jia X, Song J, Lv W, Hill JP, Nakanishi J, Ariga K. Adaptive liquid interfaces induce neuronal differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells through lipid raft assembly. Nat Commun. 2022;13:3110.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Jia X, Minami K, Uto K, Chang AC, Hill JP, Nakanishi J, et al. Adaptive liquid interfacially assembled protein nanosheets for guiding mesenchymal stem cell fate. Adv Mater. 2020;32:1905942.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Kong D, Peng L, Bosch-Fortea M, Chrysanthou A, Alexis CVJ-M, Matellan C, et al. Impact of the multiscale viscoelasticity of quasi-2D self-assembled protein networks on stem cell expansion at liquid interfaces. Biomaterials. 2022;284:121494.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Ball V, Hirtzel J, Leks G, Frisch B, Talon I. Experimental methods to get polydopamine films: a comparative review on the synthesis methods, the films’ composition and properties. Macromol. Rapid Commun. 2023;2200946, https://doi.org/10.1002/marc.202200946.

  13. Abe H, Nozaki K, Kumatani A, Matsue T, Yabu H. N- and Fe-containing carbon films prepared by calcination of polydopamine composites self-assembled at air/water interface for oxygen reduction reaction. Chem Lett. 2019;48:102–5.

  14. Abe H, Nozaki K, Sokabe S, Kumatani A, Matsue T, Yabu H. S/N Co-doped hollow carbon particles for oxygen reduction electrocatalysts prepared by spontaneous polymerization at oil–water interfaces. ACS Omega. 2020;5:18391–6.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Abe H, Matsue T, Yabu H. Reversible shape transformation of ultrathin polydopamine-stabilized droplet. Langmuir. 2017;33:6404–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Patel K, Singh N, Yadav J, Nayak JM, Sahoo SK, Lata J, et al. Polydopamine films change their physicochemical and antimicrobial properties with a change in reaction conditions. Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2018;20:5744–55.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Tobasco I, Timounay Y, Todorova D, Leggat GC, Paulsen JD, Katifori E. Exact solutions for the wrinkle patterns of confined elastic shells. Nat Phys. 2022;18:1099–104.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Timounay Y, Hartwell AR, He M, King DE, Murphy LK, Démery V, et al. Sculpting liquids with ultrathin shells. Phys Rev Lett. 2021;127:108002.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Huang J, Davidovitch B, Santangelo CD, Russell TP, Menon N. Smooth cascade of wrinkles at the edge of a floating elastic film. Phys Rev Lett. 2010;105:038302.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Curtis A, Riehle M. Tissue engineering: the biophysical background. Phys Med Biol. 2001;46:R47–R65.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Lee H, Rho J, Messersmith PB. Facile conjugation of biomolecules onto surfaces via mussel adhesive protein inspired coatings. Adv Mater. 2009;21:431–4.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Akichika Kumatani, Tohoku University, for assisting with the AFM, and Dr. Yuta Nakayasu, Tohoku University, for assisting with the XPS analyses. We also thank Prof. Joseph Paulsen and Dr. Mengfei He, Syracuse University, and Prof. Vincent Démery, École Supérieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielles de Paris, for discussing wrinkle formation. This research is supported by the KAKENHI from JSPS (nos. 19K15598, 22K14579, and 22H05397), ACT-X from JST (no. JPMJAX22K1), Research Institutes Ensemble Grant for young researchers, and FRIS Creative Interdisciplinary Collaboration Program from Tohoku University for financial support the Cooperative Research Project of Research Center for Biomedical Engineering.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University, 6-3Aramaki aza Aoba, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8578, Japan

    Hiroya Abe & Tomoya Ina

  2. Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-01 Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8579, Japan

    Hiroya Abe & Matsuhiko Nishizawa

  3. Institute of Biomaterials and Bioengineering, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 2-3-10 Kanda-Surugadai, Chiyoda, Tokyo, 101-0062, Japan

    Hirokazu Kaji

Authors
  1. Hiroya Abe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tomoya Ina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Hirokazu Kaji
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Matsuhiko Nishizawa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed to the writing of this manuscript and have approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hiroya Abe.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Abe, H., Ina, T., Kaji, H. et al. Mussel-inspired interfacial ultrathin films for cellular adhesion on the wrinkled surfaces of hydrophobic fluids. Polym J 55, 1231–1236 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-023-00799-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-023-00799-0

Search

Advanced search

Quick links