Control of cell adhesion and growth with micropatterned supported lipid membranes

In this work, phospholipid bilayers are employed as biomimetic coating mate rials to modulate the adhesion and growth of cells on solid substrates. A v ariety of lipid compositions and charge densities are examined. Culturing c ells on these supported membranes reveals that fluid lipid bilayers general ly block cell adhesion with a notable exception provided by membranes conta ining phosphatidylserine, which strongly promote adhesion and growth. This dichotomy is utilized with micropatterned membrane technology to selectivel y direct cell growth to specified regions on a substrate. Lipid composition in micropatterned membrane arrays is demonstrated to be a simple and effec tive means of patterning cell growth on surfaces.