Fig. 3

Nanostructured zirconia surfaces alter the nanoscale adhesion site architecture. Representative TEM images of the cell/substrate interface on a flat-Zr, and b ns-Zr15 substrates. The scale bars equal 100 nm. c This image shows a close-up of a representative interaction zone between a PC12 cell and the ns-Zr15 surface. The cells interacted with the surfaces for 24 h. A description of experimental setting and quantification can be found in the “Methods” section. In d, e the corresponding analysis of the width of the adhesion sites at the nanoscale are summarized. d The absolute values of all measurements for both substrates are shown. e The histogram of measured widths of adhesion sites are displayed here. The graphs represent the global statistics of images obtained from two independent experiments (fl-Zr: n = 120, ns-Zr15 = 164)