CNRS-LAAS, 7 avenue du colonel Roche, F-31400 Toulouse, France.
Langmuir. 2012 Dec 18;28(50):17363-71. doi: 10.1021/la304278n. Epub 2012 Dec 6.
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) promise various novel neural biomedical applications for interfacing neurons with electronic devices or to design appropriate biomaterials for tissue regeneration. In this study, we use a new methodology to pattern SiO(2) cell culture surfaces with double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWNTs). In contrast to homogeneous surfaces, patterned surfaces allow us to investigate new phenomena about the interactions between neural cells and CNTs. Our results demonstrate that thin layers of DWNTs can serve as effective substrates for neural cell culture. Growing neurons sense the physical and chemical properties of the local substrate in a contact-dependent manner and retrieve essential guidance cues. Cells exhibit comparable adhesion and differentiation scores on homogeneous CNT layers and on a homogeneous control SiO(2) surface. Conversely, on patterned surfaces, it is found that cells preferentially grow on CNT patterns and that neurites are guided by micrometric CNT patterns. To further elucidate this observation, we investigate the interactions between CNTs and proteins that are contained in the cell culture medium by using quartz crystal microbalance measurements. Finally, we show that protein adsorption is enhanced on CNT features and that this effect is thickness dependent. CNTs seem to act as a sponge for culture medium elements, possibly explaining the selectivity in cell growth localization and differentiation.
碳纳米管（CNTs）有望在将神经元与电子设备接口或设计用于组织再生的适当生物材料方面实现各种新颖的神经生物医学应用。在这项研究中，我们使用一种新的方法在二氧化硅（SiO2）细胞培养表面上图案化双层碳纳米管（DWNTs）。与均匀表面相比，图案化表面使我们能够研究神经细胞与 CNT 之间相互作用的新现象。我们的结果表明，DWNTs 的薄层可以作为神经细胞培养的有效基底。生长中的神经元以依赖接触的方式感知局部基底的物理和化学性质，并获取必要的指导线索。细胞在均匀的 CNT 层和均匀的对照 SiO2 表面上表现出可比的粘附和分化评分。相反，在图案化表面上，发现细胞优先在 CNT 图案上生长，并且微尺度 CNT 图案引导神经突。为了进一步阐明这一观察结果，我们通过石英晶体微天平测量研究了细胞培养介质中包含的 CNT 与蛋白质之间的相互作用。最后，我们表明 CNT 上的蛋白质吸附增强，并且这种效应与厚度有关。CNTs 似乎充当培养基元素的海绵，可能解释了细胞生长定位和分化的选择性。
