Figure 7. Long-term confinement of cells by Pluronic F108.

F108 stripes were patterned in 60 mm tissue culture plates. SH-EP cells were grown in DMEM with 0.3% calf serum (A, B, C) and SH-SY5Y cells were grown in Neurobasal with B27 supplement (D, E, F). Both cell lines were plated at 50 cells/mm² and images were taken every 3-4 d. Images were taken from representative but not identical regions of cell patterns on the same substrates. SH-EP cells patterned well initially and remained well patterned at 3 d (A). Patterns began to break down after 10 d (B) becoming much worse by day 12 (C). SH-SY5Y cells patterned well at the onset, with some of the neurites spanning the F108 stripes. By day 4 (D), some of the cells have encroached on the F108 stripe. This becomes more pronounced by day 7 (E), although the majority of the cells remain on the stripe of tissue culture plastic. By day 12 (F), many of the cells on this substrate had died. Scale bar = 50μm.