Growth and Attachment of Embryonic Stem Cell Colonies on Single Nanofibers

Colony formation is one of the most important characteristics of the pluripotency of embryonic stem cells (ESC). On a flat surface of soft material such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), the formation efficiency as well as the processing stability of ESC colonies is significantly lower than that on harder material surfaces. To still use PDMS as substrate for cell culture which is interesting for both microdevice fabrication and cell differentiation control, we deposited single nanofibers on PDMS for enhanced handling of ESCs. As expected, not only much more ESC colonies could be formed and stay on the PDMS surface with nanofibers but also they showed a narrow size distribution as compared to the results obtained on the PDMS surface without nanofibers.