Nanoscale surface topography reshapes neuronal growth in culture

Ghislain Bugnicourt (1, 2) , Jacques S. Brocard (1) , Alice Nicolas (3, 4) , Catherine Villard (5)

1 GIN - [GIN] Grenoble Institut des Neurosciences
2 CRETA - Consortium de Recherches pour l'Emergence des Technologies Avancées
3 LTM - Laboratoire des technologies de la microélectronique
4 CEA-LETI - Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives - Laboratoire d'Electronique et de Technologie de l'Information
5 NEEL - TPS - Thermodynamique et biophysique des petits systèmes

Neurons are sensitive to topographical cues provided either by in vivo or in vitro environments on the micrometric scale. We have explored the role of randomly distributed silicon nanopillars on primary hippocampal neurite elongation and axonal differentiation. We observed that neurons adhere on the upper part of nanopillars with a typical distance between adhesion points of about 500 nm. These neurons produce fewer neurites, elongate faster, and differentiate an axon earlier than those grown on flat silicon surfaces. Moreover, when confronted with a differential surface topography, neurons specify an axon preferentially on nanopillars. As a whole, these results highlight the influence of the physical environment in many aspects of neuronal growth.

Domaines: Biophysique

Ghislain Bugnicourt, Jacques S. Brocard, Alice Nicolas, Catherine Villard. Nanoscale surface topography reshapes neuronal growth in culture. Langmuir, 2014, 30 (15), pp.4441. ⟨10.1021/la5001683⟩. ⟨hal-00987842⟩