TY - JOUR
T1 - A soft, stretchable and conductive biointerface for cell mechanobiology
AU - Bernardeschi, Irene
AU - Greco, Francesco
AU - Ciofani, Gianni
AU - Marino, Attilio
AU - Mattoli, Virgilio
AU - Mazzolai, Barbara
AU - Beccai, Lucia
PY - 2015/4/1
Y1 - 2015/4/1
N2 - In mechanobiology the study of cell response to mechanical stimuli is fundamental, and the involved processes (i.e., mechanotransduction) need to be investigated by interfacing (mechanically and electrically) with the cells in dynamic and non-invasive natural-like conditions. In this work, we present a novel soft, stretchable and conductive biointerface that allows both cell mechanical stimulation and dynamic impedance recording. The biointerface stretchability and conductivity, jointly to the biocompatibility and transparency needed to perform cell culture studies, were obtained by exploiting the formation of wrinkles on the surface of a 90 nm thick conductive layer of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) on a pre-stretched 130 μm thick poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) substrate. Cell adhesion and proliferation of SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells were evaluated, and cell differentiation on the corrugated surface was assessed. We demonstrate how the biointerface remains conductive when applying uniaxial strain up to 10 %, and when cell culturing is performed. Finally, a reduction of about 30 % of the relative impedance variation signal was measured, with respect to the control, as a result of the mechanical stimulation of cells.
AB - In mechanobiology the study of cell response to mechanical stimuli is fundamental, and the involved processes (i.e., mechanotransduction) need to be investigated by interfacing (mechanically and electrically) with the cells in dynamic and non-invasive natural-like conditions. In this work, we present a novel soft, stretchable and conductive biointerface that allows both cell mechanical stimulation and dynamic impedance recording. The biointerface stretchability and conductivity, jointly to the biocompatibility and transparency needed to perform cell culture studies, were obtained by exploiting the formation of wrinkles on the surface of a 90 nm thick conductive layer of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) on a pre-stretched 130 μm thick poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) substrate. Cell adhesion and proliferation of SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells were evaluated, and cell differentiation on the corrugated surface was assessed. We demonstrate how the biointerface remains conductive when applying uniaxial strain up to 10 %, and when cell culturing is performed. Finally, a reduction of about 30 % of the relative impedance variation signal was measured, with respect to the control, as a result of the mechanical stimulation of cells.
KW - Biohybrid
KW - Impedance
KW - Mechanotransduction
KW - PEDOT:PSS
KW - Stretchable biointerface
KW - Surface wrinkling
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84925954831&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84925954831&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10544-015-9950-0
DO - 10.1007/s10544-015-9950-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 25797705
AN - SCOPUS:84925954831
VL - 17
JO - Biomedical Microdevices
JF - Biomedical Microdevices
SN - 1387-2176
IS - 2
ER -