Optical Control of Living Cells Electrical Activity by Conjugated Polymers

Abstract

Hybrid interfaces between organic semiconductors and living tissues represent a new tool for in-vitro and in-vivo applications. In particular, conjugated polymers display several optimal properties as substrates for biological systems, such as good biocompatibility, excellent mechanical properties, cheap and easy processing technology, and possibility of deposition on light, thin and flexible substrates. These materials have been employed for cellular interfaces like neural probes, transistors for excitation and recording of neural activity, biosensors and actuators for drug release. Recent experiments have also demonstrated the possibility to use conjugated polymers for all-optical modulation of the electrical activity of cells. Several in-vitro study cases have been reported, including primary neuronal networks, astrocytes and secondary line cells. Moreover, signal photo-transduction mediated by organic polymers has been shown to restore light sensitivity in degenerated retinas, suggesting that these devices may be used for artificial retinal prosthesis in the future. All in all, light sensitive conjugated polymers represent a new approach for optical modulation of cellular activity.

Endothelial TRPV1 as an Emerging Molecular Target to Promote Therapeutic Angiogenesis

“…Light-sensitive organic semiconductors are emerging as highly promising materials in biotechnology, thanks to a series of key enabling characteristics [202]: (i) they efficiently absorb light in the visible spectral range and undergo charge photogeneration; (ii) they sustain both electronic and ionic charge transport; (iii) they are soft, conformable, and solution processable; (iv) they can be easily tuned to enable specific excitation, probing, and sensing capabilities; and, most importantly, (v) they are highly biocompatible. Interestingly, a reliable optical modulation of the cell activity mediated by conjugated polymers has been reported in several previous reports, in vitro, at the level of single cells [203][204][205][206][207][208], ex vivo [209], and in vivo, as evidenced by behavioral studies on both invertebrate and vertebrate models [210,211].…”

Bio‐interface behaviour of graphene and semiconducting SWCNT:C60blend based nano photodiode for subretinal implant

“…Biological studies become essential in order to ascertain that there is no formation of risky toxic residues, no physical damage to the device layers and no harm to the stability of biological function with contact electrodes [13,14]. Of course, the optoelectronic properties as well as environmental stability of graphene [15][16][17] have been studied. The optoelectronic properties of S-SWCNT: C 60 under various absorption spectra and morphology have been studied to evaluate charge transport properties and efficiency.…”