Fibroblast Response to Nanocolumnar TiO 2 Structures Grown by Oblique Angle Sputter Deposition

Cells are established to sense and respond to the properties, including nano‐ and microscale morphology, of the substrate they adhere to, which opens up the possibility to tailor bioactivity. With this background, the potential of tilted TiO 2 nanostructures grown by oblique angle sputtering to affect fibroblasts with particular focus on inducing anisotropy in cell behavior is explored. By depositing TiO 2 at different oblique angles relative to the substrate normal, morphologies, columnar tilt angle, roughness, and distances between neighbored nanocolumns can be adjusted. To assess bioactivity of the resulting structures, L929‐mouse fibroblasts are seeded in vitro on TiO 2 nanostructured substrates. Angle‐dependent movement and velocity distributions of the cells on differently tilted columns and a smooth reference sample are studied. Cell proliferation rates and cell areas are additional factors which provide information about viability and the well‐being of cells. It could be shown that the local topography of the surface has an influence on the directed movement of the cells.