The microenvironment surrounding the cell is affected by the topography, mechanical, and chemical aspects of the surface. Among these, studies have been reported that cell spreading, differentiation, and cytoskeleton alignment are altered when the cellular microenvironment is controlled through topographic patterns. On the basis of the studies, many attempts have been made to use this pattered substrate as 3D culture methods of cells. 3D culture has the advantage of overcoming the limitation of the monolayer culture and replicating the in-vivo like environment of the cell. As an advantage of this 3D culture, many studies have been carried out to make cells into an aggregation form in order to re-differentiation of stem cells or to maintain phenotype. The aggregation method is particularly important in the chondrocyte that starts differentiation into the condensation phase of stem cells. In this study, we fabricated a 3D aggregation of cells utilizing fetal cartilage-derived progenitor cells (FCPCs), which are chondrogenic lineage cells and have a much higher proliferation and multi-lineage differentiation ability than chondrocyte and MSC, using Nano-patterned substrates. We manufactured aggregate pellet and this formation process was analyzed. These data demonstrate the potential of FCPCs three-dimensional aggregation using Nano-patterned substrate as an engineered cartilage gel.
