Ion implantation technique using negative ions for artificial neuron network on polystyrene in cell culture

Surface treatment of polystyrene dishes by negative-ion implantation has been investigated in respects of ion species and cell-attachment properties of neuron. Negative ions of silver, copper or carbon were implanted to polystyrene dishes (NTPS) and spin-coated polystyrene thin films through a mask with many slits of 60 /spl mu/m in width. The ion-implanted polystyrenes showed a decrease in contact angle due to the introduction of functional groups of oxygen atoms. In culture, neurons of rat adrenal pheochromocytoma (PC-12h) showed selective cell-attachment properties for all ion species, and the attached cells outgrew their neural protrusions in the same regions. The silver-negative ion implanted NTPS had a large effect for cell attachment compared to two other ion species.