Abstract
The interface between nanoscale electronic devices and biological systems enables interactions at length scales natural to biology, and thus should maximize communication between these two diverse yet complementary systems. Moreover, nanostructures and nanostructured substrates show enhanced coupling to artificial membranes, cells, and tissue. Such nano–bio interfaces offer better sensitivity and spatial resolution as compared to conventional planar structures. In this work, we will report the electrical properties of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) interfaced with embryonic chicken hearts and cultured cardiomyocytes. We developed a scheme that allowed us to manipulate the nanoelectronic to tissue/cell interfaces while monitoring their electrical activity. In addition, by utilizing the bottom-up approach, we extended our work to the subcellular regime, and interfaced cells with the smallest reported device ever and thus exceeded the spatial and temporal resolution limits of other electrical recording techniques. The exceptional synthetic control and flexible assembly of nanowires (NWs) provides powerful tools for fundamental studies and applications in life science, and opens up the potential of merging active transistors with cells such that the distinction between nonliving and living systems is blurred.
Highlights
Recording electrical signals from cells and tissue is central to areas ranging from the fundamental biophysical studies of function in, for example, the heart and brain, through medical monitoring and intervention
NWs and carbon nanotube (CNT) field-effect transistors (FETs) can be fabricated on flexible plastic substrates [38,39,40] and open up the possibility of making chips that can be readily deformed to tissue and organs or used for in vivo studies. We have explored this concept by assembling active NW FETs on 50-μm-thick flexible and transparent Kapton substrates
We developed a flexible scheme for interfacing cardiomyocytes and cells in general with NW FETs
Summary
Recording electrical signals from cells and tissue is central to areas ranging from the fundamental biophysical studies of function in, for example, the heart and brain, through medical monitoring and intervention. These results confirm the stability of the interface between the NW FETs and PDMS/cardiomyocyte cells, and highlight the necessity of recording explicit device sensitivity to interpret corresponding voltages This important point is further illustrated in the summary of data recorded with Vg values from –0.5 to 0.1 V (Fig. 7D), where the conductance signal amplitudes decrease from 31 to 7 nS, respectively, but the calibrated voltage, 2.9 ± 0.3 mV, remained unchanged [43]. Three 130-nm short-channel devices were interfaced with spontaneously beating cardiomyocytes and used to record the conductance changes as a function of time (Fig. 11G) These data show well-defined, correlated extracellular peaks with a ~1 Hz frequency. These findings open up unique opportunities for fundamental, subcellular biophysical studies and make steps toward the limit of building electronic interfaces at close to the molecular level
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