title: Porous nanocrystalline silicon membranes as highly permeable and molecularly thin substrates for cell culture.
abstract: Porous nanocrystalline silicon (pnc-Si) is new type of silicon nanomaterial with potential uses in lab-on-a-chip devices, cell culture, and tissue engineering. The pnc-Si material is a 15 nm thick, freestanding, nanoporous membrane made with scalable silicon manufacturing. Because pnc-Si membranes are approximately 1000 times thinner than any polymeric membrane, their permeability to small solutes is orders-of-magnitude greater than conventional membranes. As cell culture substrates, pnc-Si membranes can overcome the shortcomings of membranes used in commercial transwell devices and enable new devices for the control of cellular microenvironments. The current study investigates the feasibility of pnc-Si as a cell culture substrate by measuring cell adhesion, morphology, growth and viability on pnc-Si compared to conventional culture substrates. Results for immortalized fibroblasts and primary vascular endothelial cells are highly similar on pnc-Si, polystyrene and glass. Significantly, pnc-Si dissolves in cell culture media over several days without cytotoxic effects and stability is tunable by modifying the density of a superficial oxide. The results establish pnc-Si as a viable substrate for cell culture and a degradable biomaterial. Pnc-Si membranes should find use in the study of molecular transport through cell monolayers, in studies of cell-cell communication, and as biodegradable scaffolds for three-dimensional tissue constructs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Agrawal
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Nehilla
authors.forename: K V
authors.initials: KV
authors.lastname: Reisig
authors.forename: T R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Gaborski
authors.forename: D Z
authors.initials: DZ
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Striemer
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Fauchet
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: McGrath
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000187:drug effects; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000187:drug effects; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D003470:Culture Media; D005898:Glass; D006801:Humans; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D051379:Mice; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D010539:Permeability / Q000187:drug effects; D016062:Porosity / Q000187:drug effects; D012825:Silicon / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012995:Solubility / Q000187:drug effects; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D012825:Silicon