Engulfment of Protruding Micro-Nails Fabricated on Chip Surface by Cultured Neurons Improve Their Adhesion to The Electronic Device

Abstract

One of the major problems in assembling efficient neuro-electronic hybrids systems is the low electrical coupling between the components. This is mainly due to the low resistance, extracellular cleft formed between the cell's plasma membrane and the substrate to which it adhere. This cleft shunts the current generated by the neuron, or the device and thus reduces the signal to noise ratio. To increase the clefts electrical resistance we fabricated gold micronails that protrude from the transistor gate surface. The micronails were functionalized by phagocytosis facilitating peptides. Cultured neurons readily engulf the functionalized micronails forming tight physical contact between the cells and the surface of the device.

Advances in Cell-Conductive Polymer Biointerfaces and Role of the Plasma Membrane

“…In this scenario, further chemical functionalization with engulfment promoting peptides, such as the fibronectin-derived RGD peptide or the laminin-derived PA22-2, can be used to promote engulfment-like events and induce stronger connection between cells and pseudo-3D electrodes. ,, Furthermore, biofunctionalization approaches can be used to guide cellular distribution on specific restricted areas of a substrate: for instance, bioadhesive poly dl -ornithine (PDLO) was used to specifically guide cell attachment on vertical nanopillars where the interactions between the topographical cues provided by these pseudo-3D structures enhanced synapses formation and maturation . Similarly, a patterned thiol-based self-assembled monolayer, exploiting the attraction between the positively charged amino groups of the coating and the negatively charged PM, can be used to specifically distribute cells on the gold surface of mushroom-shaped microspines …”