Abstract
Microchips can be fabricated, using semiconductor technologies, at microscopic level to be introduced into living cells for monitoring of intracellular parameters at a single cell level. As a first step towards intracellular chips development, silicon and polysilicon microparticles of controlled shape and dimensions were fabricated and introduced into human macrophages and mouse embryos by phagocytosis and microinjection, respectively. Microparticles showed to be non-cytotoxic for macrophages and were found to be localized mainly inside early endosomes, in tight association with endosomal membrane, and more rarely in acidic compartments. Embryos with microinjected microparticles developed normally to the blastocyst stage, confirming the non-cytotoxic effect of the particles. In view of these results silicon and polysilicon microparticles can serve as the frame for future intracellular chips development and this technology opens the possibility of real complex devices to be used as sensors or actuators inside living cells.
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Abbreviations
- CLSM:
-
confocal laser scanning microscopy
- FIB:
-
focus ion beam
- ICCs:
-
IntraCellular Chips
- MEMS:
-
MicroElectroMechanical Systems
- MP:
-
microparticle
- NP:
-
nanoparticle
- PF-MP:
-
polystyrene fluorescent microspheres
- pSi-MP:
-
polysilicon MP
- SEM:
-
scanning electron microscope
- Si-MP:
-
Silicon MP
- TEM:
-
transmission electron microscopy
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Spanish government under the MINAHE 2 (TEC2005-07996-C02-01) and the MINAHE 3 (TEC2008-06883-C03-01 and TEC2008-06883-C03-03). We also wish to thank the MEC-GICSERV program, the SGR program from the Catalan government (2005SGR-00437), the IBM-CNM clean room staff, and the staff at the Servei de Microscopia at Universitat Autònoma Barcelona.
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Fig. S1
Shows a schematic representation of the fabrication process of Si- and pSi-MPs. Video 1 shows a FIB sectioning of a macrophage with an internalized Si-MP. Video 2 presents a xyz reconstruction of consecutive focal planes of a macrophage with an internalized pSi-MP. Video S3 provides the microinjection process of a pSi-MP into the cytoplasm of a mouse one-cell embryo. (GIF 132 kb)
High Resolution Image
(TIFF 3724 kb)
(AVI 2962 kb)
Video 2
(AVI 8476 kb)
(AVI 2005 kb)
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Fernández-Rosas, E., Gómez, R., Ibañez, E. et al. Internalization and cytotoxicity analysis of silicon-based microparticles in macrophages and embryos. Biomed Microdevices 12, 371–379 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-009-9393-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-009-9393-6