The role of feature curvature in contact guidance

This study examines the role of feature curvature in cellular topography sensing. To separate the effects of feature size and curvature we have developed a method to fabricate grooved substrates whose radius of curvature (r) varies from under 10 nm to 400 nm, while all other dimensions are kept constant. With increasing r up to 200 nm mouse embryonic fibroblasts increased their spread area, but reduced their polarization (aspect ratio). Interestingly, on features with r ≈ 200 and 400 nm, which had very little effect on spreading area and polarization, we find that internal structures such as stress fibers are nevertheless still strongly aligned with the topography. These findings are of importance to studies of both tissue engineering and curvature sensing proteins.