Poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) Polymer Composite Bioelectrodes with Designed Chemical and Topographical Cues to Manipulate the Behavior of PC12 Neuronal Cells

Abstract

Controlled extracellular chemical and topographical cues can generate physicochemical changes that influence the proliferation and differentiation of neural cells; external electrical stimulation (ES) via conductive bioelectrodes can promote neural differentiation by increasing neurite outgrowth. Rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells are used as a neuron‐like model cells to explore the possibility of using a well‐designed poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)/poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) blend solution to fabricate functional bioelectrodes presenting biological fouling/antifouling surfaces, thereby regulating the cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation properties. In this study, it is found that a flat PEO/PEDOT:PSS composite film fabricates through spin‐coating, operates through a contact repulsion mechanism that limits cell attachment and proliferation; in contrast, the aligned and random PEO/PEDOT:PSS nanofibers fabricates through electrospinning promoted neuron adhesion efficiently and allows manipulation of the cell morphology. Furthermore, ES of PC12 cells is performed to investigate the influence of the conductive random and aligned PEO/PEDOT:PSS composite nanofiber mats on the enhancement of neurite outgrowth, as well as the relative gene expression of Nestin, Tuj1, and MAP2. Therefore, combining this unique PEDOT:PSS blend solution with various fabrication processes appears to be a facile approach toward bioelectronic interface coatings displaying tunable surface properties for manipulating the cellular behavior of neurons during ES.

Conductive Electrospun Nanofiber Mats

“…Embedding reduced graphene oxide in electrospun poly(ester amide) (PEA) and PEA/chitosan scaffolds increased cardiac differentiation [77]. Similarly, electrospinning PEO/PEDOT:PSS nanofibers showed a positive effect on neurite outgrowth, i.e., neural differentiation of neuron-like model cells, which is especially interesting since a spin-coated PEO/PEDOT:PSS film showed contact repulsion limiting cell attachment and proliferation ( Figure 9) [78].…”

“…PC12 cells grown on aligned (a-c,g) and random nanofibers (d-f,h), resulting in oriented or random neurites (i,j). Reprinted from[78], with permission from WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.…”

Porous Electroactive and Biodegradable Polyurethane Membrane through Self‐Doping Organogel

“…[9][10][11][12][13] The CPs in most studies include polypyrrole, [14] polyaniline (PANI), [15] and polythiophenes. [16] However, the three types of CPs are very difficult to further process once after synthesized. The processing problem and mechanical brittleness of CPs promote the development of corresponding oligoanilines.…”

The Applications of Lattice Light-Sheet Microscopy for Functional Volumetric Imaging of Hippocampal Neurons in a Three-Dimensional Culture System

“…Among various diseases, neurodegenerative diseases are of great research importance because these diseases are currently considered incurable [9]. Two-dimensional (2D) neuron cultures are the most studied systems for understanding neurodegenerative diseases, in which neuronal behavior can be manipulated and measured through various techniques [10,11,12,13,14]. The function of neurons can be monitored through membrane potential or calcium dynamics using optical microscopic tools [15,16,17,18].…”