Transparent carbon nanotubes promote the outgrowth of enthorino-dentate projections in lesioned organ slice cultures
Develop. Neurobiol.. 2019-07-26; 80(9-10): 316-331
DOI: 10.1002/dneu.22711
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Pampaloni NP(1), Rago I(2)(3), Calaresu I(1), Cozzarini L(2)(4), Casalis L(2), Goldoni A(2), Ballerini L(1), Scaini D(1)(2).
Author information:
(1)International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), Trieste, Italy.
(2)Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, Trieste, Italy.
(3)Department of Physics, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy.
(4)Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy.
The increasing engineering of carbon-based nanomaterials as components of
neuroregenerative interfaces is motivated by their dimensional compatibility with
subcellular compartments of excitable cells, such as axons and synapses. In
neuroscience applications, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been used to improve
electronic device performance by exploiting their physical properties. Besides,
when manufactured to interface neuronal networks formation in vitro, CNT carpets
have shown their unique ability to potentiate synaptic networks formation and
function. Due to the low optical transparency of CNTs films, further developments
of these materials in neural prosthesis fabrication or in implementing
interfacing devices to be paired with in vivo imaging or in vitro optogenetic
approaches are currently limited. In the present work, we exploit a new method to
fabricate CNTs by growing them on a fused silica surface, which results in a
transparent CNT-based substrate (tCNTs). We show that tCNTs favor dissociated
primary neurons network formation and function, an effect comparable to the one
observed for their dark counterparts. We further adopt tCNTs to support the
growth of intact or lesioned entorhinal-hippocampal complex organotypic cultures
(EHCs). Through immunocytochemistry and electrophysiological field potential
recordings, we show here that tCNTs platforms are suitable substrates for the
growth of EHCs and we unmask their ability to significantly increase the signal
synchronization and fiber sprouting between the cortex and the hippocampus with
respect to Controls. tCNTs transparency and ability to enhance recovery of
lesioned brain cultures, make them optimal candidates to implement implantable
devices in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.
© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.