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Multiwell Plate Tools for Controlling Cellular Alignment with Grooved Topography

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Biomimetics and Stem Cells

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1202))

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Abstract

In many tissues, cells must be aligned for proper function. This alignment can occur at the cellular and/or subcellular (protein/molecular) level. The alignment of cytoskeletal components, in fact, precedes whole cell alignment. A variety of methods exist to manipulate cytoskeletal and whole cell alignment; one of the simplest and most predictable involves seeding adherent cells onto defined substrate topography. We present here two methods to create grooved multiwell plates: one involving microfabrication, which allows for custom design of substrate topography, and a simpler, inexpensive method using commercially available diffraction gratings. We also include methods for manual and automatic quantification of cell alignment.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5S 3E5

    Camila Londono, John Soleas, Petra B. Lücker & Alison P. McGuigan

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5S 3E5

    Petra B. Lücker & Alison P. McGuigan

  3. The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5S 3G4

    Suthamathy Sathananthan & J. Stewart Aitchison

Authors
  1. Camila Londono
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  2. John Soleas
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  3. Petra B. Lücker
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  4. Suthamathy Sathananthan
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  5. J. Stewart Aitchison
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  6. Alison P. McGuigan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alison P. McGuigan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA

    Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic

  2. Sprott Centre for Stem Cell Research, Regenerative Medicine Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    Kursad Turksen

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Londono, C., Soleas, J., Lücker, P.B., Sathananthan, S., Aitchison, J.S., McGuigan, A.P. (2014). Multiwell Plate Tools for Controlling Cellular Alignment with Grooved Topography. In: Vunjak-Novakovic, G., Turksen, K. (eds) Biomimetics and Stem Cells. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1202. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/7651_2014_76

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/7651_2014_76

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-1331-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-1332-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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