title: Hybrid Thin Film Organosilica Sol-Gel Coatings To Support Neuronal Growth and Limit Astrocyte Growth.
abstract: Thin films of silica prepared by a sol-gel process are becoming a feasible coating option for surface modification of implantable neural sensors without imposing adverse effects on the devices' electrical properties. In order to advance the application of such silica-based coatings in the context of neural interfacing, the characteristics of silica sol-gel are further tailored to gain active control of interactions between cells and the coating materials. By incorporating various readily available organotrialkoxysilanes carrying distinct organic functional groups during the sol-gel process, a library of hybrid organosilica coatings is developed and investigated. In vitro neural cultures using PC12 cells and primary cortical neurons both reveal that, among these different types of hybrid organosilica, the introduction of aminopropyl groups drastically transforms the silica into robust neural permissive substrate, supporting neuron adhesion and neurite outgrowth. Moreover, when this organosilica is cultured with astrocytes, a key type of glial cells responsible for glial scar response toward neural implants, such cell growth promoting effect is not observed. These findings highlight the potential of organo-group-bearing silica sol-gel to function as advanced coating materials to selectively modulate cell response and promote neural integration with implantable sensing devices.
authors.affiliation: LNLS - Laboratório Nacional de Luz Síncrotron, Caixa Postal 6192, CEP 13083-970 Campinas, SP, Brazil.|Chemistry Institute, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul , CEP 91501-970, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Larissa Brentano
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Capeletti
authors.affiliation: LNLS - Laboratório Nacional de Luz Síncrotron, Caixa Postal 6192, CEP 13083-970 Campinas, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mateus Borba
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Cardoso
authors.affiliation: Chemistry Institute, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul , CEP 91501-970, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: João Henrique Zimnoch
authors.initials: JHZ
authors.lastname: Dos Santos
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: He
keywords: functional coatings; neural interface; silica; sol−gel; surface modification