Simultaneous Visualization of Wet Cells and Nanostructured Biomaterials in SEM using Ionic Liquids

This work presents a successful methodology to image mammalian cells adhered to nanostructured titanium by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) operating in low-vacuum mode following ionic liquid treatment. Human osteoblast-like Saos-2 cells were treated with a room-temperature ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, and subsequently imaged on titanium by SEM. Titanium substrates were modified to create laser-induced …