gms | German Medical Science

Artificial Vision 2015

The International Symposium on Visual Prosthetics

27.11. - 28.11.2015, Aachen

Article

Send article

Physiological Properties of Retinal Precursor Cells Grown on Ruthenium Nano-Lawn Structures Generated for Modification of Microelectrode Array Systems

Meeting Abstract

Search Medline for

  • Sandra Johnen - Department of Ophthalmology, RWTH Aachen, University Hospital Aachen, Germany
  • A. Jupe - Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems, Duisburg, Germany
  • A. Goehlich - Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems, Duisburg, Germany
  • W. Mokwa - Institute for Materials in Electrical Engineering 1, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
  • P. Walter - Department of Ophthalmology, RWTH Aachen, University Hospital Aachen, Germany

Artificial Vision 2015. Aachen, 27.-28.11.2015. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2016. Doc15artvis12

doi: 10.3205/15artvis12, urn:nbn:de:0183-15artvis129

Published: March 7, 2016

© 2016 Johnen et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Outline

Text

Background: To analyze the biocompatibility of Ruthenium nano-lawn structures in order to optimize the properties of microelectrodes, embedded in prostheses to induce electrical stimulation of surviving retinal cells, in terms of charge transfer capacity and signal-to-noise ratio.

Methods: The nano-lawn structures, manufactured by our partner from the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems, have been realized as an array of free-standing tubes made from Ruthenium. A single tube is 3 µm high with a wall thickness of 50 nm and a diameter of 200 nm (bottom) to 400 nm (top). Survival, growth rate, and gene expression of retinal precursor (R28) cells were analyzed after direct and indirect contact. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to illustrate cell adhesion properties.

Results: Regarding the indirect contact, pre-incubated medium had no significant influence on cell growth rates. R28 cells exhibited good proliferation and morphological properties on the Ruthenium nano-lawn structures, showing less than 2% death cells as well as non-significant differences in gene expression. SEM images depicted good adhesion and biocompatibility properties after colonization with R28 cells.

Conclusion: The tested Ruthenium nano-lawn structures showed good stability and biocompatibility profiles, demonstrating that this technology is a promising tool to further improve microelectrode array systems developed to connect with remaining retinal cells.

Acknowledgment: This work was supported by BMBF Grant 16SV5322K.