Spatial regulation and surface chemistry control of monocyte/macrophage adhesion and foreign body giant cell formation by photochemically micropatterned surfaces.

A long-standing goal of biomedical device development has been the generation of specific, desired host blood and tissue responses. An approach to meeting this design criteria is precise surface modification that creates micropatterns of distinct physicochemical character to direct cell adhesion and behavior. For this study, poly(ethylene terephthalate) films were coated with poly(benzyl N, N-diethyldithiocarbamate-co-styrene) and sequentially exposed to monomer solutions for photoirradiation. A photomask was placed over different regions to generate micropatterned surfaces with graft polymer stripes of three distinct ionic characters. Human monocytes were cultured on these surfaces to ascertain whether adhesion and fusion of monocytes/macrophages could be controlled. Nonionic polyacrylamide greatly inhibited adhesion and induced clumping of the few monocytes that did adhere. Macrophage adhesion and spreading led to high degrees of interleukin-13 induced foreign body giant cell formation on both the anionic poly(acrylic acid), sodium salt, and benzyl N,N-diethyldithiocarbamate portions of the culture surface. In spite of the highest observed levels of monocyte/macrophage adhesion on cationic poly(dimethylaminopropylacrylamide), methiodide, the adherent cells were not competent to undergo fusion to form foreign body giant cells. These results suggest that inflammatory cell responses may be spatially controlled in a manner that may be ultimately exploited to improve the biocompatibility of medical devices. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.