Abstract
Mechanical forces generated by cells are known to influence a vast range of cellular functions ranging from receptor signaling and transcription to differentiation and proliferation. We report a novel measurement approach using zinc oxide nanorods as a peeping transducer to monitor dynamic mechanical behavior of cellular traction on surrounding substrate. We develop a ZnO nanorod field effect transistor (FET) as an ultrasensitive force sensor to realize long-time, unstained, and in-situ detection of cell cycle phases, including attachment, spread, and mitosis. Excellent biocompatibility and ultra-sensitivity of the biomechanical measurement is ensured by coating a parylene film on the FET sensor as a concealment, which provides complete electronic isolation between the sensor and cell. With unique features of ultra-sensitivity, label-free, easy handling, and good biocompatibility, the force sensor allows feasible for tracking cellular dynamics in physiological contexts and understanding their contribution to biological processes.
Highlights
Transistors[16,17], resonators[18], and nano-sensors[19,20,21]
The sensor is structured with source, drain and gate electrodes, as well as semiconducting ZnO nanorods serving as conductive channel of the field effect transistor (FET)
The EDX results of ZnO nanorods prove the atomic ratio of zinc to oxygen is near the stoichiometric composition (1:1)
Summary
Transistors[16,17], resonators[18], and nano-sensors[19,20,21]. They are pure, structurally uniform, single crystalline, and most are free from dislocation. A ZnO nanorod field effect transistor (FET) is proposed. Forces exerted by cells onto underlying ZnO nanorods are transduced into Schottky barrier change at semiconductor/metal interface for piezoelectricity of ZnO, which is detected by using a frequency mixing effect of semiconducting nanorods and a lock-in amplifier. The ZnO nanorod FET force sensor is concealed by depositing a parylene film on the sensor to isolate electrical measurement from cell environment and ensures an excellent biocompatibility for long time measurement. The sensor has good anti-jamming capability due to the parylene film isolation and possesses high sensitivity by using the frequency mixing of FET and lock-in detection. With impressive merits of high sensibility, label-free, easy handling, and good biocompatibility, the cell force sensor can be applied for measuring cellular forces in a physiological context and understanding their contribution to biological processes in drug screening, cell differentiation, cancer cell detection, diseases diagnosing, wound healing, and etc[23,24]
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