Biomimetic graphene for enhanced interaction with the external membrane of astrocytes
Journal article, 2018
Graphene and graphene substrates display huge potential as material interfaces for devices and biomedical tools targeting the modulation or recovery of brain functionality. However, to be considered reliable neural interfaces, graphene-derived substrates should properly interact with astrocytes, favoring their growth and avoiding adverse gliotic reactions. Indeed, astrocytes are the most abundant cells in the human brain and they have a crucial physiological role to maintain its homeostasis and modulate synaptic transmission. In this work, we describe a new strategy based on the chemical modification of graphene oxide (GO) with a synthetic phospholipid (PL) to improve interaction of GO with brain astroglial cells. The PL moieties were grafted on GO sheets through polymeric brushes obtained by atom-transfer radical-polymerization (ATRP) between acryloyl-modified PL and GO nanosheets modified with a bromide initiator. The adhesion of primary rat cortical astrocytes on GO-PL substrates increased by about three times with respect to that on glass substrates coated with standard adhesion agents (i.e. poly-d-lysine, PDL) as well as with respect to that on non-functionalized GO. Moreover, we show that astrocytes seeded on GO-PL did not display significant gliotic reactivity, indicating that the material interface did not cause a detrimental inflammatory reaction when interacting with astroglial cells. Our results indicate that the reported biomimetic approach could be applied to neural prosthesis to improve cell colonization and avoid glial scar formation in brain implants. Additionally, improved adhesion could be extremely relevant in devices targeting neural cell sensing/modulation of physiological activity.
Author
M. Durso
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
A. I. Borrachero-Conejo
Istituto per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati del C.N.R.
C. Bettini
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
E. Treossi
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
A. Scidà
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
E. Saracino
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
M. Gazzano
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
Meganne Christian
Consiglo Nazionale Delle Richerche
V. Morandi
Consiglo Nazionale Delle Richerche
G. Tuci
Consiglo Nazionale Delle Richerche
G. Giambastiani
Kazan Federal University
Consiglo Nazionale Delle Richerche
L. Ottaviano
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
University of L'Aquila
F. Perrozzi
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
V. Benfenati
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
M. Melucci
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
Vincenzo Palermo
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
Chalmers, Industrial and Materials Science, Materials and manufacture
Journal of Materials Chemistry B
2050750x (ISSN) 20507518 (eISSN)
Vol. 6 33 5335-5342Subject Categories (SSIF 2011)
Materials Engineering
Neurosciences
Cell and Molecular Biology
Biomaterials Science
DOI
10.1039/c8tb01410h