Foremny Katharina, Nagels Steven, Kreienmeyer Michaela, Doll Theodor, Deferme Wim
ORL Department, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Straße 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
Cluster of Excellence Hearing4All, Carl-Neuberg-Straße 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2021 Nov 30;11(12):3251. doi: 10.3390/nano11123251.
Galinstan, a liquid metal at room temperature, is a promising material for use in flexible electronics. Since it has been successfully integrated in devices for external use, e.g., as stretchable electronic skin in tactile sensation, the possibility of using galinstan for flexible implant technology comes to mind. Usage of liquid metals in a flexible implant would reduce the risk of broken conductive pathways in the implants and therefore reduce the possibility of implant failure. However, the biocompatibility of the liquid metal under study, i.e., galinstan, has not been proven in state-of-the-art literature. Therefore, in this paper, a material combination of galinstan and silicone rubber is under investigation regarding the success of sterilization methods and to establish biocompatibility testing for an in vivo application. First cell biocompatibility tests (WST-1 assays) and cell toxicity tests (LDH assays) show promising results regarding biocompatibility. This work paves the way towards the successful integration of stretchable devices using liquid metals embedded in a silicone rubber encapsulant for flexible surface electro-cortical grid arrays and other flexible implants.
镓铟锡合金在室温下是一种液态金属，是用于柔性电子学的一种很有前景的材料。由于它已成功集成到外部使用的设备中，例如用作具有触觉的可拉伸电子皮肤，因此人们想到了将镓铟锡合金用于柔性植入技术的可能性。在柔性植入物中使用液态金属将降低植入物中导电通路断裂的风险，从而降低植入失败的可能性。然而，所研究的液态金属即镓铟锡合金的生物相容性在现有文献中尚未得到证实。因此，在本文中，正在研究镓铟锡合金与硅橡胶的材料组合在灭菌方法的成功率方面的情况，并为体内应用建立生物相容性测试。首次细胞生物相容性测试（WST - 1 测定法）和细胞毒性测试（LDH 测定法）在生物相容性方面显示出了有前景的结果。这项工作为使用嵌入硅橡胶密封剂中的液态金属成功集成可拉伸设备用于柔性表面电皮层网格阵列和其他柔性植入物铺平了道路。
