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Outside Looking In: Nanotube Transistor Intracellular Sensors
Nanowire-based field-effect transistors, including devices
with
planar and three-dimensional configurations, are being actively explored
as detectors for extra- and intracellular recording due to their small
size and high sensitivities. Here we report the synthesis, fabrication,
and characterization of a new needle-shaped nanoprobe based on an
active silicon nanotube transistor, ANTT, that enables high-resolution
intracellular recording. In the ANTT probe, the source/drain contacts
to the silicon nanotube are fabricated on one end, passivated from
external solution, and then time-dependent changes in potential can
be recorded from the opposite nanotube end via the solution filling
the tube. Measurements of conductance versus water-gate potential
in aqueous solution show that the ANTT probe is selectively gated
by potential changes within the nanotube, thus demonstrating the basic
operating principle of the ANTT device. Studies interfacing the ANTT
probe with spontaneously beating cardiomyocytes yielded stable intracellular
action potentials similar to those reported by other electrophysiological
techniques. In addition, the straightforward fabrication of ANTT devices
was exploited to prepare multiple ANTT structures at the end of single
probes, which enabled multiplexed recording of intracellular action
potentials from single cells and multiplexed arrays of single ANTT
device probes. These studies open up unique opportunities for multisite
recordings from individual cells through cellular networks