仿生味觉自适应柔性纳米电极阵列构建研究

Type Ⅲ taste receptor cell is an important node for biomimetic gustatory information transmission. It could evoke action potential and serotonin (5-HT) secretion simultaneously under the tastant stimuli. However, technologies available could not analyze the electrophysiological and chemical secretory characteristics completely and accurately at the cell level, due to the small amount of 5-HT secretion and the discrete spot sites of the small taste cells. It is inclined to lead to correlation responses missing during important events, which limits the research of gustatory transmission mechanism. A self-adaptive flexible nano-electrode array for biomimetic gustation was developed in this project, which could enhance microscopic matching between flexible substrate and cell membrane and increase seal resistance. In order to realize multi-site 5-HT concentration detection as low as several nanomoles per liter at subcellular level, multisite nano-electrodes modified by nano metal particles 3D encapsulated with graphene were prepared for electrochemical catalytic performance and sensitivity improving. A novel approach was well established for coupling research on extracellular potential and chemical secretion of taste cells, which was utilized to record and extract the feature of extracellular action potential amplitude, frequency and dynamic release of 5-HT of taste cells under different concentrations of tastant stimulation. It is significant for revealing primary coding process and taste information transmission between cell-to-cell and cell-to-afferent fibers. It exhibits great potential for applying on gustation repair, artificial gustation and medicine recognition.

Ⅲ型味觉受体细胞是仿生味觉信息传递的重要节点，在味觉刺激下能够发放动作电位并分泌五羟色胺（5-HT），但由于胞体较小、5-HT分泌量少且位点离散，现有方法无法完整而准确地在细胞层次上获取Ⅲ型味觉受体细胞的电生理和化学分泌特征，造成胞外重要关联响应的丢失，限制了味觉传导机理的研究。本项目提出一种仿生味觉自适应柔性纳米电极阵列，利用柔性基底与细胞膜微观匹配提高封接阻抗，增强味觉细胞与电极的有效耦合。通过石墨烯三维包裹纳米金属粒子修饰纳米电极阵列，增强电化学催化性能并提高灵敏度，实现对亚细胞尺度的nM量级多位点5-HT动态分泌的检测。记录并提取味觉细胞在味质刺激下胞外动作电位幅度、频率及5-HT动态释放等响应特征，建立一种多模态味觉细胞胞外电位/化学分泌耦联研究的新方法。这对揭示味觉细胞间、细胞与神经末梢的初级编码信息传导具有重要意义，在味觉修复，人工味觉和药物识别等领域有重要应用前景。

针对Ⅲ型味觉受体细胞胞体较小、5-HT分泌量少且位点离散，现有方法无法完整而准确地在细胞层次上获取Ⅲ型味觉受体细胞的电生理和化学分泌特征的问题，本项目提出并研究一种仿生味觉自适应柔性纳米电极阵列，利用柔性基底与细胞膜微观匹配提高封接阻抗，增强味觉细胞与电极的有效耦合。实现对亚细胞尺度的nM量级多位点5-HT动态分泌的检测。记录并提取味觉细胞在味质刺激下胞外动作电位幅度、频率及5-HT动态释放等响应特征，建立一种多模态味觉细胞胞外电位/化学分泌耦联研究的新方法。本项目中制备的6×6柔性电极传感阵列单元，薄膜厚度不大于500nm，5-HT浓度检测灵敏度达到nM量级。发表相关SCI论文7篇，申请发明专利5项，发明专利授权1项，培养研究生6名。本研究对揭示味觉细胞间、细胞与神经末梢的初级编码信息传导具有重要意义，在味觉修复，人工味觉和药物识别等领域有重要应用前景。