Carbon nanotubes might improve neuronal performance by favouring electrical shortcuts.
Carbon nanotubes have been applied in several areas of nerve tissue engineering to probe and augment cell behaviour, to label and track subcellular components, and to study the growth and organization of neural networks. Recent reports show that nanotubes can sustain and promote neuronal electrical activity in networks of cultured cells, but the ways in which they affect cellular function are still poorly understood. Here, we show, using single-cell electrophysiology techniques, electron microscopy analysis and theoretical modelling, that nanotubes improve the responsiveness of neurons by forming tight contacts with the cell membranes that might favour electrical shortcuts between the proximal and distal compartments of the neuron. We propose the 'electrotonic hypothesis' to explain the physical interactions between the cell and nanotube, and the mechanisms of how carbon nanotubes might affect the collective electrical activity of cultured neuronal networks. These considerations offer a perspective that would allow us to predict or engineer interactions between neurons and carbon nanotubes.
Cellot
Giada
G
Life Science Department, B.R.A.I.N., University of Trieste, via Fleming 22, I-34127, Trieste, Italy.
Cilia
Emanuele
E
Cipollone
Sara
S
Rancic
Vladimir
V
Sucapane
Antonella
A
Giordani
Silvia
S
Gambazzi
Luca
L
Markram
Henry
H
Grandolfo
Micaela
M
Scaini
Denis
D
Gelain
Fabrizio
F
Casalis
Loredana
L
Prato
Maurizio
M
Giugliano
Michele
M
Ballerini
Laura
L
D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D025802:Electric Capacitance; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D009431:Neural Conduction; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D051381:Rats; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry
D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon