Transparent carbon nanotubes promote the outgrowth of enthorino‐dentate projections in lesioned organ slice cultures

Abstract

The increasing engineering of carbon‐based nanomaterials as components of neuroregenerative interfaces is motivated by their dimensional compatibility with subcellular compartments of excitable cells, such as axons and synapses. In neuroscience applications, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been used to improve electronic device performance by exploiting their physical properties. Besides, when manufactured to interface neuronal networks formation in vitro, CNT carpets have shown their unique ability to potentiate synaptic networks formation and function. Due to the low optical transparency of CNTs films, further developments of these materials in neural prosthesis fabrication or in implementing interfacing devices to be paired with in vivo imaging or in vitro optogenetic approaches are currently limited. In the present work, we exploit a new method to fabricate CNTs by growing them on a fused silica surface, which results in a transparent CNT‐based substrate (tCNTs). We show that tCNTs favor dissociated primary neurons network formation and function, an effect comparable to the one observed for their dark counterparts. We further adopt tCNTs to support the growth of intact or lesioned entorhinal–hippocampal complex organotypic cultures (EHCs). Through immunocytochemistry and electrophysiological field potential recordings, we show here that tCNTs platforms are suitable substrates for the growth of EHCs and we unmask their ability to significantly increase the signal synchronization and fiber sprouting between the cortex and the hippocampus with respect to Controls. tCNTs transparency and ability to enhance recovery of lesioned brain cultures, make them optimal candidates to implement implantable devices in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.

Optimization of Organotypic Cultures of Mouse Spleen for Staining and Functional Assays

“…Organotypic culture technology is routinely used to perform organotypic culture of central nervous system sections (20,21). However, its application to lymphoid organs has lagged behind.…”

Carbon nanostructures for directional light dark matter detection

“…Carbon nanotubes can be thought of as graphene sheets wrapped into straws with an internal diameter of a few nm, and are 'single-walled' when each nanotube is formed by a single graphene layer, or 'multi-walled' if multiple graphene cylinders share the same axis. Vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes can be grown through Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) on different substrates, with lengths up to a few hundred m [13,14]: some example growths of vertically-aligned multi-walled nanotubes we have performed with the CVD chamber present in the Elettra laboratories (Trieste) are shown in Figure 4. A new CVD chamber has been installed in University of Rome 'Sapienza' in July 2020, which is capable of producing both multi-walled and single-walled nanotubes.…”

Recent Advances in Carbon Nanotubes for Nervous Tissue Regeneration

“…CNT-based substrate (tCNTs) consisting of MWCNT carpets grown on fused silica substrates [52]. tCNTs not only favor dissociated primary neurons network formation and function ( Figure 6(a)) but also boost the spontaneous synaptic activity of hippocampal neurons.…”

“…(a) Entorhinal cortex/ dentate gyrus (EC/DG) intercommunication ability through the perforant pathway (PP) transection in intact and lesioned EHC using a stimulation electrode inserted into the EC superficial layer. (c) Representative confocal images showing the sprouting of SMI32-positive axon fibers (in green) crossing the gap area[52].…”