Interfacing Inorganic Nanowire Arrays and Living Cells for Cellular Function Analysis

摘要

Inorganic nanowires are among the most attractive functional materials emerged in the past two decades and have demonstrated applications to information technology and energy conversion, but the utility in biological or biomedical research remains relatively under-explored. Although nanowire-based sensors have been frequently reported for biomolecular detection, interfacing nanowire arrays and living mammalian cells for direct analysis of cellular functions was a very recent endeavor. Cell-penetrating nanowires enabled effective delivery of biomolecules, electrical and optical stimulation and recording of intra-cellular signals over a long period of time. Non-penetrating, high-density nanowire arrays display rich interactions between the nanostructured substrate and the microano-scale features of cell surface. Such interactions enabled efficient capture of rare cells including circulating tumor cells and trafficking leukocytes from complex biospecimens. It also served as a platform for probing cell traction force and neuronal guidance. This article reviews the most recent advance in the field that exploits nanowire arrays (both penetrating and non-penetrating) to perform rapid analysis of cellular functions potentially for disease diagnosis and monitoring.