Design parameters and human biocompatibility assessment protocols for organic semiconducting neural interfaces: toward a printed artificial retina with color vision
Date
2023
Authors
Sherwood, C.P.
Crovador, R.
Posar, J.A.
Brichta, N.
Simunovic, M.P.
Louie, F.
Dastoor, P.C.
Brichta, A.M.
Cairney, J.M.
Holmes, N.P.
Editors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Journal article
Citation
Advanced Materials Interfaces, 2023; 10(19):1-15
Statement of Responsibility
Conference Name
Abstract
Organic semiconductors have emerged as promising neural interfacing materials due to their innate biocompatibility, soft mechanical properties, and mixed electron/ion conduction. One exciting application is their use as artificial photosensors for retinal prostheses via optically induced neuromodulation. In this study, the optoelectronic and neural interfacing properties of six organic semiconductor polymers and small molecules, split into donor/acceptor pairs that form promising candidates for a trichromatic artificial retina that closely mimics the native response of the human eye are presented. The biocompatibility of these materials using primary human retinal cell cultures by systematic measurement of both cell viability and morphological analysis of retinal ganglion cell neurite elongation over time is investigated.
Comparable cell viability between human retinal cell cultures established on all the organic semiconductors and a glass control, which is a standard measurement for biocompatibility in materials science is observed. In contrast, differences in the morphological biocompatibility between the organic semiconductor materials and glass control are detected by analyzing neurite elongation with specific immunomarkers. The difference in the two results has implications for the future assessment of material biocompatibility for bioelectronics, and optimal methodology for assessing morphological biocompatibility in neural interface devices is discussed.
School/Discipline
Dissertation Note
Provenance
Description
Access Status
Rights
Copyright 2023 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)