Adhesion of Neurons and Glial Cells with Nanocolumnar TiN Films for Brain-Machine Interfaces

Abstract

Coupling of cells to biomaterials is a prerequisite for most biomedical applications; e.g., neuroelectrodes can only stimulate brain tissue in vivo if the electric signal is transferred to neurons attached to the electrodes’ surface. Besides, cell survival in vitro also depends on the interaction of cells with the underlying substrate materials; in vitro assays such as multielectrode arrays determine cellular behavior by electrical coupling to the adherent cells. In our study, we investigated the interaction of neurons and glial cells with different electrode materials such as TiN and nanocolumnar TiN surfaces in contrast to gold and ITO substrates. Employing single-cell force spectroscopy, we quantified short-term interaction forces between neuron-like cells (SH-SY5Y cells) and glial cells (U-87 MG cells) for the different materials and contact times. Additionally, results were compared to the spreading dynamics of cells for different culture times as a function of the underlying substrate. The adhesion behavior of glial cells was almost independent of the biomaterial and the maximum growth areas were already seen after one day; however, adhesion dynamics of neurons relied on culture material and time. Neurons spread much better on TiN and nanocolumnar TiN and also formed more neurites after three days in culture. Our designed nanocolumnar TiN offers the possibility for building miniaturized microelectrode arrays for impedance spectroscopy without losing detection sensitivity due to a lowered self-impedance of the electrode. Hence, our results show that this biomaterial promotes adhesion and spreading of neurons and glial cells, which are important for many biomedical applications in vitro and in vivo.

Laminin Adsorption and Adhesion of Neurons and Glial Cells on Carbon Implanted Titania Nanotube Scaffolds for Neural Implant Applications

“…While cells form protrusions and are more elongated on pristine TNSs, the cells exhibit a rounder morphology on TNSs implanted with higher C fluences. Interestingly, we found that the cell areas of both cell lines on TNSs are approximately one order of magnitude higher compared to cells on TiN and nanocolumnar TiN, as reported by Abend et al [ 85 ].…”

Neuronal and glial cell co-culture organization and impedance spectroscopy on nanocolumnar TiN films for lab-on-a-chip devices

“…Please also refer to previous studies by Abend et al for detailed material characterization. 39,41 In order to study possible influences of SH-SY5Y to U-87 MG cell ratios on cell behavior, cells were seeded as a coculture with different ratios of 80 : 20, 20 : 80, and 50 : 50 on…”

“…54 Cell morphology and adhesion studies of the employed cell lines on electrode materials ITO, TiN, and TiN nano are included in our previous study. 41 We expect the cell-surface adhesion and spreading behavior to be similar.…”

“…As we have shown before, TiN and TiN nano exhibit improved biocompatibility features compared to ITO and gold. 39,41 Thus, nanocolumnar TiN offers great potential for the fabrication of miniaturized MEAs.…”