초록 |
Brain-on-a-Chip technology is an emerging platform that provides basic research tools and drug-screening methods using biological tissues in a dish. There are three enabling technologies involved: nerve cell culture, surface chemistry, and microelectrode array. Planar-type microelectrode arrays (MEAs) are used to record and stimulate live neurons in vitro. Integrating live cells with microelectrode array is challenging as these cells are interfaced with non-biological microenvironment composed of organic or inorganic insulators and metal sensors. The chemical functionalization of MEA surfaces plays a key role in growing nerve cells to be functionally active and achieving long-term stable recordings. In this presentation, I will introduce recent studies on the application of polydopamine chemistry to the design of in vitro microelectrode array system for cultured neurons. First, polydopamine chemistry was optimized to grow and record neurons on MEAs. Polydopamine coating was tested with various neuro-materials (e.g., glass, gold, platinum, silicon dioxide, indium tin oxide, and liquid crystal polymer). Biocompatibility with primary neuronal cultures were also evaluated by testing covalent linking scheme with cell-adhesive biomaterials (e.g., poly-D-lysine, RDG peptides).1 Next, an electrochemical method was investigated to localize the surface functionalization only on the microelectrodes.2 Finally, polydopamine chemistry was utilized to enhance the mechanical stability of nanoporous platinum structures that were used for neurosensors.3 These studies successfully showed that polydopamine-based surface functionalization schemes would be very promising functional platform for engineering biomedical devices. (1) K. Kang, I. S. Choi, and Y. Nam, Biomaterials, 32, 6374 (2011). (2) K. Kang, S. Lee, R. Kim, I. S. Choi, and Y. Nam, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 51, 13101 (2012). (3) R. Kim and Y. Nam, J. Neural Eng., 12, 026010 (2015). |