EuropEan Journal of paEdiatric dEntistry vol. 15/2-2014 163 Eruption Guidance Appliance: a review

abstract Aim Eruption guidance appliance (Occlus-o-Guid

Infrared microspectroscopy of live cells in microfluidic devices (MD-IRMS): Toward a powerful label-free cell-based assay

Until nowadays most infrared microspectroscopy (IRMS) experiments on biological specimens (i.e., tissues or cells) have been routinely carried out on fixed or dried samples in order to circumvent water absorption problems. In this paper, we demonstrate the possibility to widen the range of in-vitro IRMS experiments to vibrational analysis of live cellular samples, thanks to the development of novel biocompatible IR-visible transparent microfluidic devices (MD). In order to highlight the biological relevance of IRMS in MD (MD-IRMS), we performed a systematic exploration of the biochemical alterations induced by different fixation protocols, ethanol 70% and formaldehyde solution 4%, as well as air-drying on U937 leukemic monocytes by comparing their IR vibrational features with the live U937 counterpart. Both fixation and air-drying procedures affected lipid composition and order as well as protein structure at a different extent while they both induced structural alterations in nucleic acids. Therefore, only IRMS of live cells can provide reliable information on both DNA and RNA structure and on their cellular dynamic. In summary, we show that MD-IRMS of live cells is feasible, reliable, and biologically relevant to be recognized as a label-free cell-based assay

Synchrotron radiation infrared microspectroscopy of single living cells in microfluidic devices: Advantages, disadvantages and future perspectives

The possibility to fully exploit the diagnostic capabilities of SR-IRMS for studying single living cells under physiological conditions is limited by several constrains. First of all, the technology for manufacturing materials transparent to both IR and visible light is quite immature, limiting the design of fluidic devices to simple demountable liquid cells. In addition, the water spectral features become prominent in the Mid IR, hiding several cellular bands and therefore limiting the diagnostic capabilities of SR-IRMS. The overcoming of the so called "water absorption barrier" requires the improvement of the protocols for the compensation of buffer spectral contributions, a goal that can be achieved also advancing the quality of IR-suitable fluidic devices. In this paper, the technical solutions employed for microfabricating completely sealed IR-visible transparent fluidic devices for living cell analysis will be presented. Several examples of the results obtained in the study of living U937 monocytes subjected to different stimuli will be selected for highlighting both the advantages and the disadvantages offered by our approach for cellular biologyThe possibility to fully exploit the diagnostic capabilities of SR-IRMS for studying single living cells under physiological conditions is limited by several constrains. First of all, the technology for manufacturing materials transparent to both IR and visible light is quite immature, limiting the design of fluidic devices to simple demountable liquid cells. In addition, the water spectral features become prominent in the Mid IR, hiding several cellular bands and therefore limiting the diagnostic capabilities of SR-IRMS. The overcoming of the so called "water absorption barrier" requires the improvement of the protocols for the compensation of buffer spectral contributions, a goal that can be achieved also advancing the quality of IR-suitable fluidic devices. In this paper, the technical solutions employed for microfabricating completely sealed IR-visible transparent fluidic devices for living cell analysis will be presented. Several examples of the results obtained in the study of living U937 monocytes subjected to different stimuli will be selected for highlighting both the advantages and the disadvantages offered by our approach for cellular biolog

Surface pinning of catalyst nanoparticles for enhanced size and position control of 1D nanostructures growth

10.1016/j.mee.2013.02.048Microelectronic Engineering110335-339MIEN