Abstract
Graphene, a two-dimensional carbon crystal, has emerged as a promising material for sensing and modulating neuronal activity in vitro and in vivo. In this review, we provide a primer for how manufacturing processes to produce graphene and graphene oxide result in materials properties that may be tailored for a variety of applications. We further discuss how graphene may be composited with other bio-compatible materials of interest to make novel hybrid complexes with desired characteristics for bio-interfacing. We then highlight graphene’s ever-widen utility and unique properties that may in the future be multiplexed for cross-modal modulation or interrogation of neuronal network. As the biological effects of graphene are still an area of active investigation, we discuss recent development, with special focus on how surface coatings and surface properties of graphene are relevant to its biological effects. We discuss studies conducted in both non-murine and murine systems, and emphasize the preclinical aspect of graphene’s potential without undermining its tangible clinical implementation.
Highlights
Graphene (Gr), the first true two-dimensional material to exist in isolation, is the type of new nanomaterial that results in interest for novel biomedical applications
As the presence of Gr becomes more widespread and commonplace across the biomedical sciences, the relatively larger body of work detailing the biological effects of carbon nanotubes may serve as a template guiding the utility of Gr for biological applications (Kostarelos et al, 2009)
PEDOT electrodes with sufficient recording capability where Gr may be incorporated to increase overall mechanical strength may have different design criteria from applications where Gr acts as an electrode material
Summary
From Michael Chrichton’s tragic protagonist in The Terminal Man to the recent growth in start-up companies seeking to transfer consciousness, the fictive present and future call to mind visions of devices that enable neural interfacing and control. These ideas may create questions as to ethics for neuroscience in the future, the current state-ofthe-art for implanted devices is far more limited in scope.
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