Noninvasive methods for in situ electrical stimulation of human cells open new frontiers to future bioelectronic therapies, where controlled electrical impulses could replace the use of chemical drugs for disease treatment. Here, this study demonstrates that the interaction of living cells with piezoelectric nanogenerators (NGs) induces a local electric field that self-stimulates and modulates their cell activity, without applying an additional chemical or physical external stimulation. When cells are cultured on top of the NGs, based on 2D ZnO nanosheets, the electromechanical NG-cell interactions stimulate the motility of macrophages and trigger the opening of ion channels present in the plasma membrane of osteoblast-like cells (Saos-2) inducing intracellular calcium transients. In addition, excellent cell viability, proliferation, and differentiation are validated. This in situ cell-scale electrical stimulation of osteoblast-like cells can be extrapolated to other excitable cells such as neurons or muscle cells, paving the way for future bioelectronic medicines based on cell-targeted electrical impulses.

Electrospinning and plasma post-modification lead to PVDF scaffolds with favorable electromechanical properties and enhanced wettability.

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In case of a large-scale radiological incident, the pooling of ressources by networks can enhance the rapid classification of individuals in medically relevant treatment groups based on the DCA. The performance of the RENEB network as a whole has clearly benefited from harmonization processes and specific training activities for the network partners.

The use of micro- and nanodevices as multifunctional systems for biomedical applications has experienced an exponential growth during the past decades. Although a large number of studies have focused on the design and fabrication of new micro- and nanosystems capable of developing multiple functions, a deeper understanding of their interaction with cells is required. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of different microparticle surfaces on their interaction with normal and tumoral human breast epithelial cell lines. For this, AlexaFluor488 IgG functionalized polystyrene microparticles (3 μm) were coated with Polyethyleneimine (PEI) at two different molecular weights, 25 and 750 kDa. The effect of microparticle surface properties on cytotoxicity, cellular uptake and endocytic pathways were assessed for both normal and tumoral cell lines. Results showed a differential response between the two cell lines regarding uptake efficiency and mechanisms of endocytosis, highlighting the potential role of microparticle surface tunning for specific cell targeting.