A 3D reconstructed confocal fluorescence micrograph of a tissue scaffold. Image: Charles M. Lieber and Daniel S. Kohane |
To control the 3D shape of engineered
tissue, researchers grow cells on tiny, sponge-like scaffolds. These devices
can be implanted into patients or used in the lab to study tissue responses to
potential drugs.
A team of researchers from Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, and Boston Children’s
Hospital has now added a new element to tissue scaffolds: electronic sensors.
These sensors, made of silicon nanowires, could be used to monitor electrical
activity in the tissue surrounding the scaffold, control drug release, or
screen drug candidates for their effects on the beating of heart tissue.
The research, published online in Nature
Materials, could also pave the way for development of tissue-engineered
hearts, says Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT and a
senior author of the paper.
“We are very excited about this study,”
Langer says. “It brings us one step closer to someday creating a
tissue-engineered heart, and it shows how novel nanomaterials can play a role
in this field.”
Lead authors of the paper are Bozhi Tian, a
former postdoctoral researcher at MIT and Children’s Hospital; Jia Liu, a
Harvard graduate student; and Tal Dvir, a former MIT postdoctoral researcher.
Other senior authors are Daniel Kohane, director of the Laboratory for
Biomaterials and Drug Delivery at Children’s Hospital, and Charles Lieber, a Harvard
professor of chemistry.
A 3D system
Until now, the only cellular platforms that incorporated electronic sensors
consisted of flat layers of cells grown on planar metal electrodes or transistors.
Those 2D systems do not accurately replicate natural tissue, so the research
team set out to design a 3D scaffold that could monitor electrical activity,
allowing them to see how cells inside the structure would respond to specific
drugs.
The researchers built their new scaffold
out of epoxy, a nontoxic material that can take on a porous, 3D structure.
Silicon nanowires embedded in the scaffold carry electrical signals to and from
cells grown within the structure.
“The scaffold is not just a mechanical
support for cells, it contains multiple sensors. We seed cells into the scaffold
and eventually it becomes a 3D engineered tissue,” Tian says.
The team chose silicon nanowires for
electronic sensors because they are small, stable, can be safely implanted into
living tissue and are more electrically sensitive than metal electrodes. The
nanowires, which range in diameter from 30 to 80 nm, can detect voltages less
than one-thousandth of a watt, which is the level of electricity that might be
seen in a cell.
Monitoring cell behavior
In the Nature Materials study, the researchers used their scaffolds to
grow cardiac, neural, and muscle tissue. Using the engineered cardiac tissue,
the researchers were able to monitor cells’ response to noradrenalin, a
stimulant that typically increases heart rate.
The team also grew blood vessels with
embedded electronic sensors and showed that they could be used to measure pH
changes within and outside the vessels. Such implantable devices could allow
doctors to monitor inflammation or other biochemical events in patients who
receive the implants. Ultimately, the researchers would like to engineer
tissues that can not only sense an electrical or chemical event, but also respond
to it appropriately—for example, by releasing a drug.
The team is now further studying the
mechanical properties of the scaffolds and making plans to test them in
animals.
