Micropatterning of polymers is a technique used in tissue engineering to create additional features on the surface usually to manipulate cell behaviour. However, methods used for fabrication of such features on the surface of synthetic polymers are not always suitable for natural polymers. Here we describe a method of embossing developed for plastic compressed collagen constructs. Plastic compression (PC) of collagen is a technique that allows cell-independent fabrication of dense, tissue-like collagen constructs without compromising viability of resident cells (1). Method of PC creates potential anisotropy of the opposite surfaces – stiffer fluid leaving (closest to the blotting elements) and more elastic non-fluid leaving surface. We hypothesized that embossing into these surfaces will give more stable features on the fluid-leaving surface (FLS) as opposed to non fluid-leaving surface (NFLS). Objectives were to develop methods of embossing onto both surfaces, assess these features and to determine stability of the embossed pattern over time with and without cells. Slow-dissolving phosphate-based glass fibers were used as the embossing template in this study as fiber diameter and spacing is easily controlled
