The chronic reliability of bioelectronic neural interfaces has been challenged by foreign body reactions (FBRs) resulting in fibrotic encapsulation and poor integration with neural tissue. Engineered microtopographies could alleviate these challenges by manipulating cellular responses to the implanted device. Parallel microchannels have been shown to modulate neuronal cell alignment and axonal growth, and Sharklet™ microtopographies of targeted feature sizes can modulate bio‐adhesion of an array of bacteria, marine organisms, and epithelial cells due to their unique geometry. We hypothesized that a Sharklet™ micropattern could be identified that inhibited fibroblasts partially responsible for FBR while promoting Schwann cell proliferation and alignment. in vitro cell assays were used to screen the effect of Sharklet™ and channel micropatterns of varying dimensions from 2 to 20 μm on fibroblast and Schwann cell metrics (e.g., morphology/alignment, nuclei count, metabolic activity), and a hierarchical analysis of variance was used to compare treatments. In general, Schwann cells were found to be more metabolically active and aligned than fibroblasts when compared between the same pattern. 20 μm wide channels spaced 2 μm apart were found to promote Schwann cell attachment and alignment while simultaneously inhibiting fibroblasts and warrant further in vivo study on neural interface devices. No statistically significant trends between cellular responses and geometrical parameters were identified because mammalian cells can change their morphology dependent on their environment in a manner dissimilar to bacteria. Our results showed although surface patterning is a strong physical tool for modulating cell behavior, responses to micropatterns are highly dependent on the cell type.

中文翻译：

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微地形模式促进成纤维细胞和雪旺细胞的不同反应：神经植入物的一个可能特征。

生物电子神经接口的长期可靠性受到异物反应（FBR）的挑战，导致纤维化包裹和与神经组织的整合不良。工程微地形可以通过操纵细胞对植入设备的反应来缓解这些挑战。平行微通道已被证明可以调节神经元细胞排列和轴突生长，而具有目标特征尺寸的 Sharklet™ 微拓扑结构由于其独特的几何形状，可以调节一系列细菌、海洋生物和上皮细胞的生物粘附。我们假设 Sharklet™ 微图案可以抑制部分导致 FBR 的成纤维细胞，同时促进雪旺细胞增殖和排列。体外细胞测定用于筛选 Sharklet™ 和 2 至 20 μm 不同尺寸的通道微图案对成纤维细胞和雪旺细胞指标（例如形态/排列、细胞核计数、代谢活性）的影响，以及方差的分层分析用于比较治疗。一般来说，在相同模式之间进行比较时，发现施万细胞比成纤维细胞代谢更活跃且排列更一致。研究发现，间隔 2 μm 的 20 μm 宽通道可促进雪旺细胞附着和排列，同时抑制成纤维细胞，并有必要对神经接口装置进行进一步的体内研究。细胞反应和几何参数之间没有发现统计学上显着的趋势，因为哺乳动物细胞可以以与细菌不同的方式根据其环境改变其形态。我们的结果表明，虽然表面图案是调节细胞行为的强大物理工具，但对微图案的反应高度依赖于细胞类型。