Timing and Controlling Dissolution of Cell Repellent Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) Thin Films for Patterned Cell Micro-Arrays
Abstract
Recently, a novel, high-throughput, patterned cell micro-array has been developed using polydopamine and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) as cell adhesive and cell repellent surfaces, respectively. The step converting the cell repellent surface to an adhesive one was shown to be toxic, so this project set out to investigate whether the cell repellent PVA surface could be dissolved instead through timed or controlled dissolution. PVA film solubility was tested in water and in cell compatible media. Various methods for stabilizing PVA films were investigated, hoping that they would show desirable dissolution profiles. The cell repellent properties of prepared films were assessed using HeLa cells. During solubility tests, a flaw was discovered and corrected in the previously established dissolution investigation method using wafers as substrates. None of the attempted preparation methods resulted in PVA films that had ideal dissolution profiles. At best, films would either dissolve completely or stabilize after only a few minutes. No method for reversing the PVA-film stabilization succeeded either. Thus new preparation and stabilization methods for PVA films should be investigated.