New strategies for spatially controllable cell adhesion have been developed for brain cells from embryonic chicken. They are based on electrochemically active phenol and pyrrole derivatives, and can be used for the selective coverage of electroconductive substrates. Besides mimicking standard laminin-related adhesion promoting mechanisms by means of an electroactive monomer-linked 18-peptide segment from laminin (SRARKQAASIKVAVSADR), electrochemically generated thin (6-30 nm) polymer films of 3-hydroxybenzyl-hydrazine (3HBH) and 2-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-ethanol (2(3HP)E) with and without mechanically entrapped or covalently linked D-lysine have proved to promote cell adhesion in serum-free medium on indium-doped tin oxide (ITO) substrates during the first 6 culturing days in vitro. The effectiveness of the peptide was strongly density-dependent. Unexpectedly, laminin itself or a combination of laminin and poly-D-lysine (PDL) did not promote cell adhesion and neuron differentiation in serum-free cultures on ITO. However, they worked perfectly well on regular polystyrene substrates in serum-free medium or on ITO when medium with serum was used. This finding might suggest that the adhesion efficiency of laminin does not depend only on the kind of medium supplement but also on the type of substrate. In contrast, the adhesion-promoting properties of "artificial" polymeric films seemed to be based on a more direct cell-film interaction, with the film masking the substrate properties.