Cell fouling resistance of PEG-grafted polyimide film for neural implant applications

Recently, neural prosthetic electrodes covered with polyimide (PI) have been developed for chronic recording and stimulation of nervous system function. However, when these devices are implanted onto the nerve trunk, nerves might be damaged by the presence of the electrode due to the mechanical mismatch between the stiff probe and the soft biological tissue. Consequently, newly formed tissue layer may isolate the electrode from neural tissue, resulting in poor signal detection. In this study, we found a method to solve this problem. As the method, we designed and prepared poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-grafted PI film to function cell fouling resistance. The PEG-grafted PI film was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and static water contact angle measurements. Protein adsorption experiment was carried out to evaluate protein fouling resistance because protein adsorption is closely related to cell adhesion. In vitro cell behavior on PEG-grafted PI film was evaluated by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and CCK assays. The results showed that PEG-grafted PI film has characteristics of protein and cell fouling resistances as compared to bare and hydrolyzed PI films under in vitro. We suggested that PEG-grafted PI film can be useful for a neural implantable electrode.