Nanoporous Gold: A Biomaterial for Microfabricated Drug-Delivery Platforms
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Nanoporous Gold: A Biomaterial for Microfabricated Drug-Delivery Platforms Erkin Seker1,2,3, Yevgeny Berdichevsky4, Kevin J. Staley4, Martin L. Yarmush2,3,5 1
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Davis, CA, USA Center for Engineering in Medicine, Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 3 Shriners Hospitals for Children, Boston, MA, USA 4 Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 5 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA 2
ABSTRACT Nanoporous gold (np-Au) is a promising nanostructured material with many desirable properties, including large surface area-to-volume ratio, corrosion resistance, high conductivity, and well-studied thiol-based surface chemistry. While np-Au has been used in a variety of applications, from fuel cells to electrochemical sensors, its interface with biology, where many of its exciting applications lie, is surprisingly non-existent. This paper reports on drug delivery from np-Au thin films for modifying cell proliferation in situ. We expect that establishing np-Au as a biomaterial with drug delivery capabilities will create new opportunities for engineering advanced BioMEMS devices that can monitor and modulate biological processes in both in vitro and in vivo settings.
INTRODUCTION There is a constant demand for expanding the functionality of BioMEMS devices to create more effective tools for monitoring and modulating biological processes. Even though the integration of nanostructured materials in BioMEMS tools has already enhanced device capabilities, the need for novel materials with multiple functions is ever present [1]. One such candidate material is nanoporous gold (np-Au), which can be produced by a simple selfassembly process involving selective dissolution of silver from a silver-rich gold alloy, commonly referred to as dealloying [2]. There has been significant interest in np-Au due to its large surface area-to-volume ratio, corrosion resistance, high conductivity, and well-studied thiol-based surface chemistry [3]. However, much of this interest has been directed towards npAu’s sensor and catalyst applications [4] and fundamental studies on its property-structure relationships [5]. Despite its potential as a drug delivery medium, its biological applications have been practically non-existent. Towards filling this gap, we have previously demonstrated that this material can be used as an advanced multiple electrode array coating that enhances the sensitivity in monitoring electrophysiological activity of cultured brain slices [6]. A desirable attribute for functional biomedical coatings is drug delivery capability to modulate tissue response in situ. Np-Au with its controllable open-pore structure is an ideal material for this purpose. The objective of this paper is to illustrate that: (i) np-Au is permissive to culturing adherent cells; and
(ii) the porous network can be used for releasing bio
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