Institute of Bioelectronics ICS-8/PGI-8, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425, Jülich, Germany.
Small. 2017 Jun;13(24). doi: 10.1002/smll.201700629. Epub 2017 May 2.
Accelerated neurite outgrowth of rat cortical neurons on a flexible and inexpensive substrate functionalized with gold nanocone arrays is reported. The gold nanocone arrays are fabricated on Teflon films by a bottom-up approach based on colloidal lithography followed by deposition of a thin gold layer. The geometry of nanocone arrays including height and pitch is controlled by the overall etching time and template polystyrene beads size. Fluorescence microscopy studies reveal high viability and significant morphological changes of the neurons on the structured surfaces. The elongation degree of neurite is maximized on the nanocone arrays created with 1 µm polystyrene beads by a factor of two with respect to the control. Furthermore, the interface between the neurons and the nanocones is investigated by scanning electron microscopy and focused ion beam cross-sectioning. The detailed observation of the neuron/nanocone interfaces reveals the morphological similarity between the nanocone tips and the neuronal processes, the existence of interspace at the interface between the cell body and the nanocones, and neurite bridging among the neighboring structures, which may induce the acceleration of neurite outgrowth. The flexible gold nanocone arrays can be a good supporting substrate of neuron culture with noble electrical and optical properties.
本文报道了在经过金纳米锥形阵列功能化的柔性且廉价基底上，大鼠皮质神经元的神经突生长得到了加速。金纳米锥形阵列是通过基于胶体光刻的自下而上方法在聚四氟乙烯薄膜上制造的，然后沉积一层薄的金层。纳米锥形阵列的几何形状包括高度和间距可以通过整体蚀刻时间和模板聚苯乙烯珠的尺寸来控制。荧光显微镜研究表明，在结构化表面上神经元具有高存活率和显著的形态变化。在使用 1 µm 聚苯乙烯珠制造的纳米锥形阵列上，神经突的伸长程度最大可提高两倍。此外，通过扫描电子显微镜和聚焦离子束截面研究了神经元与纳米锥之间的界面。对神经元/纳米锥界面的详细观察表明，纳米锥尖端与神经元突起之间具有形态相似性，在胞体和纳米锥之间的界面存在间隙，并且相邻结构之间存在神经突桥接，这可能会诱导神经突生长的加速。这种柔性的金纳米锥形阵列可以作为具有优良的电学和光学性能的神经元培养的良好支撑基底。
