Engineering High-Resolution Micropatterns Directly onto Titanium with Optimized Contact Guidance to Promote Osteogenic Differentiation and Bone Regeneration

Topographical cues play an important role in directing cell behavior and thus, extensive research efforts have been devoted to fabrication of surface patterns and exploring the contact guidance effect. However, engineering high-resolution micropatterns directly onto metallic implants remains a grand challenge. Moreover, there still lacks of evidence that allows translation of in vitro screening to in vivo tissue response. Herein, we demonstrate a fast, cost-effective, and feasible approach to the precise fabrication of shape- and size- controlled micropatterns on titanium substrates using a combination of photolithography and inductively coupled plasma–based dry etching. A titanium TopoChip containing 34 microgrooved patterns with varying geometry parameters and a flat surface as control was designed for high-throughput in vitro study of the contact guidance of osteoblasts. The correlation between the surface pattern dimensions, cell morphological characteristics, proliferation, and osteogenic marker expr...