Fig. 2.

Representative astrocyte orientation behavior on homogeneous and patterned LN surfaces stamped on glass coverslips. On homogenous LN fields, astrocytes showed no preferred orientation at 6 hr (A), 1 day (B) and 4 days (C) as visualized with the indirect immunofluorescent histochemistry (IHC) against the intermediate filament Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) (red), or using fluorescently labeled phalloidin to visualize actin microfilament orientation (D–F). In sharp contrast, the orientation of GFAP (G–I) and fluorescently labeled actin (J–L) on stamped LN lane patterned surfaces revealed considerable anisotropy. A quantitative analysis of astrocyte alignment on homogeneous stamped LN surfaces (M) showed no preferred directionality, whereas a strong bias in the direction of astrocyte alignment on the stamped LN lane patterns (N) was evident. The two groups were significantly different as determined with the Chi Square Test for Independence at a p < 0.05. Scale bar= 100 µm.