Neurons find nanotubes stimulating

Thin films of carbon nanotubes deposited on transparent plastic can serve as a surface on which cells can grow. Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) and Rice University suggest these nanotube films could potentially serve as an electrical interface between living tissue and prosthetic devices or biomedical instruments.

“As far as I know, we’re the first group to show that you can have some kind of electrical communication between these two things, by stimulating cells through our transparent conductive layer,” said Todd Pappas, director of sensory and molecular neuroengineering at UTMB’s Center for Biomedical Engineering and one of the study’s senior authors.

Pappas’ group employed two different types of cells in their experiments, neuroblastoma cells commonly used in test-tube experiments and neurons cultured from experimental rats. Both cell types were placed on ten-layer-thick “mats” of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) deposited on transparent plastic. This enabled the researchers to use a microscope to position a tiny electrode next to individual cells and record their responses to electrical pulses transmitted through the SWNTs.