J. Biomater. Sci. Polymer Edn, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 161–172 (2004) Ó VSP 2004. Also available online - www.vsppub.com Combination of ion beam stabilisation, plasma etching and plasma deposition for the development of tissue engineering micropatterned supports M. MANSO ¤ , P. ROSSINI, I. MALERBA, A. VALSESIA, L. GRIBALDO, G. CECCONE and F. ROSSI European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP-JRC TP-203), Via Enrico Fermi, 21020 Ispra (Va), Italy Received 5 February 2003; accepted 9 October 2003 Abstract —The performance of biomedical assays at both molecular and cellular level depends greatly on the ability to design new polymer surfaces. Patterns can be created by using materials with contrasted surface properties. In this work we describe in detail the preparation of micropatterned surfaces to be used as tissue engineering supports. Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) was used as the ‘anti-fouling’ polymer in opposition to functional regions covered by acrylic acid (AAc). Since spin- casted PEG élms are unstable, ion beam stabilization (IBS) treatment was applied in order to render it insoluble. On the other hand, AAc élms were deposited by low-power plasma chemical vapour deposition. Chemical properties of both polymers were monitored by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy while topographic features were followed by atomic force microscopy. Finally, a micropattern was produced by using a mask, which isolated the IBS-PEG from the AAc-deposited regions. Endothelial cells cultured on the surface were observed to follow the micropatterns. In fact, for a certain surface density it was observed that the cells present tensile or compressive stresses when forced to remain in the anti-foulingor the functionalisedregions, respectively. Key words: Poly(ethylene glycol); acrylic acid; ion-beam stabilisation; plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy,endothelial cells. INTRODUCTION Polymer micropatterning is an outstanding method to create components for differ- ent kinds of biomedical devices, such as biosensors and tissue engineering supports. On the active part, a functional group with high afénity towards the target species ¤ To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: (39-332) 785-153. Fax: (39-332) 78-5787 or (39-332) 78-5036. E-mail: miguel.manso@jrc.it