School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering , Nanyang Technological University , 62 Nanyang Drive , Singapore 637459 , Singapore.
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering , Nanyang Technological University , 50 Nanyang Avenue , Singapore 639798 , Singapore.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2019 Feb 6;11(5):4833-4841. doi: 10.1021/acsami.8b19631. Epub 2019 Jan 23.
We report multiscale structured fibers and patterned films based on a semiconducting polymer, poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), as photoconductive biointerfaces to promote neuronal stimulation upon light irradiation. The micro/nanoscale structures of P3HT used for neuronal interfacing and stimulation include nanofibers with an average diameter of 100 nm, microfibers with an average diameter of about 1 μm, and lithographically patterned stripes with width of 3, 25, and 50 μm, respectively. The photoconductive effect of P3HT upon light irradiation provides electrical stimulation for neuronal differentiation and directed growth. Our results demonstrate that neurons on P3HT nanofibers showed a significantly higher total number of branches, while neurons grown on P3HT microfibers had longer and thinner neurites. Such a combination strategy of topographical and photoconductive stimulation can be applied to further enhance neuronal differentiation and directed growth. These photoconductive polymeric micro/nanostructures demonstrated their great potential for neural engineering and development of novel neural regenerative devices.
我们报告了一种基于半导体聚合物聚 3-己基噻吩（P3HT）的多尺度结构化纤维和图案化薄膜，作为光照射下促进神经元刺激的光电导生物界面。用于神经元接口和刺激的 P3HT 的微/纳米结构包括平均直径为 100nm 的纳米纤维、平均直径约为 1μm 的微纤维以及分别具有 3、25 和 50μm 宽度的光刻图案化条纹。P3HT 在光照射下的光电导效应为神经元分化和定向生长提供了电刺激。我们的结果表明，在 P3HT 纳米纤维上的神经元表现出明显更高的总分支数，而在 P3HT 微纤维上生长的神经元具有更长和更细的突起。这种形貌和光电导刺激的组合策略可进一步增强神经元的分化和定向生长。这些光电导聚合物微/纳米结构展示了它们在神经工程和新型神经再生设备开发中的巨大潜力。
