Neurons in buckyballs
Scientists have created networks of neurons using 3D printing
Using microscopically precise 3D printing technologies and sound waves as tweezers, scientists from Stanford University (USA) and the Technical University of Vienna (TU Wien, Austria) have created tiny networks of neurons. News appeared on the TU Wien website. The results of the study are published in the journal Biofabrication (Ren et al., Enhancing cell packing in buckyballs by acousofluidic activation).
Creating an artificial network of neurons, the researchers first printed on a 3D printer a spherical cage for cells measuring only 100 micrometers, which is great for holding cells and allowing living tissue to grow in a very specific form.
Then the nerve cells were inserted into the frame using acoustic bioprinting technology so that multicellular nerve tissue could develop there. Sound waves were used as acoustic tweezers. The authors of the work note that in such a structure it is even possible to create neural connections between different cells.
In order to grow a large number of nerve cells in a small space, the research team decided to use so–called "buckyballs" - structures that repeat the shape, which resemble a microscopic soccer ball, but are several orders of magnitude larger than the fullerenes C 60 taken as samples.
"The holes of the "buckyballs" are large enough to allow cells to migrate into the ball, but when the cells merge, they can no longer leave the structure," explains Dr. Wolfgang Steiger, one of the authors of the study.
Not only the creation of "buckyballs", but also the assembly of cells into these balls is a very difficult task. The innovative technology of three-dimensional acoustic bioprinting developed at Stanford Medical School has successfully solved this problem.
Scientists have caused acoustic vibrations in the solution in which the cells are located. The cells followed the sound waves. In this process, oscillation nodes are formed at certain points where the fluid is relatively static. If the cells are located at these points, they remain there; and the rest are repelled by an acoustic wave. Thus, the cells moved to other places where the carbon balls were located and got inside the "buckyballs". After the "buckyballs" were successfully colonized by nerve cells, they formed connections with the neurons of neighboring balls.
The new method will allow scientists to create and study neural networks with which it will be possible to study important biological issues.
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