Interaction of Single Cells with 2D Organic Monolayers: A Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy Study

Cell shape is a valuable indicator of cell health status and interactions with the extracellular materials. With the aim to investigate how individual cells respond to chemical microenvironments, we employed 2D monomolecular layers of small organic molecules, characterized by very low roughness. MCF10A cells were grown on these surfaces and characterized by using scanning electrochemical microscopy. The single cell morphologies were analyzed to define a "figure of merit" for the different cell-surface interactions. Such "figure of merit" quantifies the interaction with the microenvironment. This method is applicable to any cell state (metastatic, physiological or pathological) and any surface.