Gold Etching To achieve structured substrates for cell adhesion the microcontact printing (mCP) method [27] was

used. The stamp was made of the silicone elastomer Sylgard 184 (Dow Corning, US) and a copper TEM bar grid (400 bars/25.4 mm) was used as master. For mCP a 3.5 _10_2 M solution of octadecyl thiol in ethanol was used as ink. Twenty microlitres of the ink was dropped on the stamp surface and after 20 s the liquid was blown away and the stamp surface was dried under nitrogen. After 40 s the stamp was pressed onto the gold substrate for 60 s and removed again. By the immersion of the substrates in an aqueous solution of 3.2 mg potassium hexacyanoferrate(II) trihydrate (K4[Fe(CN)6].3H2O, Aldrich, Germany), 33 mg potassium hexacyanoferrate(III) (K3[Fe(CN)6], Aldrich, Germany), 190 mg potassium thiosulfate (K2S2O3, Aldrich, Germany) and 400 mg potassium hydroxide (Aldrich, Germany) in 10 mL deionised water the metal is reduced and removed solely at those surface areas which were not covered with a thiol layer by the mCP. After this etching process the samples were rinsed with water and dried under nitrogen. In a last step the samples were dipped in a solution of 2 mL aminopropyl triethoxy silane (APTS) in 50 mL chloroform for 30 s under a nitrogen atmosphere (to exclude moisture), then rinsed with chloroform and water and finally dried under nitrogen. To remove the solvent completely the samples were stored in an incubator for 1 h at 37 _C. The treatment with APTS causes the amination of those parts of the glass substrate, which were uncovered from the gold layer by the etching process.

Before

After