Cell patterning and navigation of cell migration on caged cell-culturing substrate

Caged cell-culturing substrate is composed of a glass substrate immobilized with a monolayer having a photocleavable protecting group. This substrate can be activated for cell adhesion by illumination of light. By using this substrate, we have succeeded in micropatterning of cells corresponding to photomasks inserted at the location of the field diaphragm of a standard fluorescence microscope. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of terminal functional groups in caged cell-culturing substrates on photoactivation of cell adhesion without using fibronectin. In addition, we applied one of the substrates to navigate migration of single cells from their original pattern by illumination of light.