Technique of surface modification of a cell-adhesion-resistant hydrogel by a cell-adhesion-available inorganic microarray

A microtransfer technique for micropattern fabrication using a dithiol macromolecular linker is suggested by transferring a conventionally photolithography-prepared gold microarray on a hard inorganic substrate to a polymeric substrate. The linker was synthesized by end-capping a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) chain by the thiol groups. The efficiency of this technique is demonstrated by the transfer of gold microdots from glass to a cell-adhesion-resistant PEG hydrogel, which was formed by polymerizing PEG diacrylate macromers. The stability and biocompatibility of the resulting polymeric-inorganic hybrid material and cell-adhesion contrast of the patterned surface is confirmed by preliminary cell experiments.