Line-width of ion beam-modified polystyrene by negative carbon ions for fine adhesion pattern of mesenchymal stem cells

The fine adhesion pattern of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on polytyrene (PS) was investigated by carbon negative-ion implantation with decreasing the implanted line-width. The carbon negative ions with certain ion fluence of 3 × 1014 ions/cm2 and ion energy of 10 keV were implanted through the ridge-pattern mask having slit aperture from 0 to 40 μm. After 2 days of culture of rat MSCs on the modified PS, the MSCs elongated and adhered along the implanted region due to the lowering of contact angle after the ion implantation. The cells stained with fluorescent dye of DAPI were used to observe the position of cell adhesion on the modified line-width. By decreasing the line-width from 40 to 3 μm, we found the adhesion arrangements from the gathering cells to the individual cells. The most probable adhesions of the gathering cells in a lateral direction of the line were found at a wider width than 20 μm, while that of the individual cells were found at a width of about 10 μm. The adhesion arrangement of individual cells helped to increase the distances of cell-to-cell due to the elongated adhesion of cells along the narrowed implanted line-width. The number of adhered cells decreased with a decrease in the implanted line-width, and almost all of them had the same direction of their nucleus at the narrower line-width than 12 μm. Therefore, the controls of the individual cell-adhesion arrangement in a line and the nuclei direction could be achieved by decreasing the implanted line-width to about 10 μm.