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Abstract: Chemical surface modification of neuron-surface interfaces is essential for the development of biologically active and functional neural interfaces. Different types of surface modification schemes are required to derivatize either electrode or insulator surfaces, which limits the surface chemistry based neural interface design. Herein, we report a novel and powerful approach for modifying neuron-surface interfaces using mussel-inspired polymer (‘polydopamine film(polyDA)’) for generating effective chemical platforms on both electrode and insulator surfaces simultaneously. We applied polyDAs to common neural interface surfaces (gold, glass, platinum, indium tin oxide, liquid crystal polymer) and subsequently functionalized them by covalently linking biomolecules. The surfaces coated with polyDAs exhibited uniform and reproducible surface properties and they all became neuron-adhesive after linking with poly-d-lysine. In addition, polydopamine-coated microelectrode arrays were readily functional such that spontaneous and evoked neural activities could be recorded from cultured neuronal networks. We have successfully showed that a novel polyDA can be effectively used for the neural interface design. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A cytocompatible method of surface-initiated, activator regenerated by electron transfer, atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ARGET ATRP) is developed for engineering cell surfaces with synthetic polymers. Dopamine-based ATRP initiators are used for both introducing the ATRP initiator onto chemically complex cell surfaces uniformly (by the material-independent coating property of polydopamine) and protecting the cells from radical attack during polymerization (by the radical-scavenging property of polydopamine). Synthetic polymers are grafted onto the surface of individual yeast cells without significant loss of cell viability, and the uniform and dense grafting is confirmed by various characterization methods including agglutination assay and cell-division studies. This work will provide a strategic approach to the generation of living cell-polymer hybrid structures and open the door to their application in multitude of areas, such as sensor technology, catalysis, theranostics, and cell therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]