Vito Vurro1,Carlotta Ronchi1,Valentina Sesti2,1,Silvia Crasto3,4,Maria Rosa Antognazza1,Chiara Bertarelli2,1,Elisa Di Pasquale3,4,Guglielmo Lanzani1,2,Francesco Lodola5
Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia1,Politecnico di Milano2,National Research Council of Italy3,Humanitas Clinical and Research Center4,Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca5
Vito Vurro1,Carlotta Ronchi1,Valentina Sesti2,1,Silvia Crasto3,4,Maria Rosa Antognazza1,Chiara Bertarelli2,1,Elisa Di Pasquale3,4,Guglielmo Lanzani1,2,Francesco Lodola5
Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia1,Politecnico di Milano2,National Research Council of Italy3,Humanitas Clinical and Research Center4,Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca5
The study of human-machine interaction is an appealing research area where the developed interfaces find application in robotic,<sup>1,2</sup> biological<sup>3,4</sup> and medical areas.<sup>5</sup> In particular, great interest is rising for the development of a contactless and wireless interaction. Within this context, light represents a clean and spatiotemporal precise tool to achieve such a goal.<sup>6</sup> Conjugated molecules and polymers offer a promising platform to interface with cells and living organisms due to their high optical absorption/emission cross section, chemical synthesis’ easiness and relatively low toxicity.<sup>7,8</sup><br/>In this work, we focus on cardiomyocytes photopacing, whichare interesting candidates to test the stimulation process due to their excitability, contraction ability and their electrical behaviour. Specifically, we present the use of an azobenzene-derivative that is able to trigger the signalling process in muscle cells at all the physiological levels of the contraction. We characterized the effect of the photostimulation on electrophysiology response, calcium wave generation and contraction activity. Moreover, we test this approach on <i>in vitro</i> micro-physiological systems controlling its macroscopic contraction activity.<br/>This last step consists of the realization of a bio-hybrid photoresponsive smart tissue, which is crucial for moving towards a real translational application and achieve the ultimate goal of this project. This can be a breakthrough for future applications in robotics and pharmacology, as well as tissue regeneration.<br/><br/><b>References</b><br/>1. Feinberg, A. W. Biological Soft Robotics. <i>Annu. Rev. Biomed. Eng.</i> <b>17</b>, 243–265 (2015).<br/>2. Ricotti, L. <i>et al.</i> Biohybrid actuators for robotics: A review of devices actuated by living cells. <i>Sci. Robot.</i> <b>2</b>, eaaq0495 (2017).<br/>3. Antognazza, M. R., Abdel Aziz, I. & Lodola, F. Use of Exogenous and Endogenous Photomediators as Efficient ROS Modulation Tools: Results and Perspectives for Therapeutic Purposes. <i>Oxid. Med. Cell. Longev.</i> <b>2019</b>, 1–14 (2019).<br/>4. Colombo, E., Feyen, P., Antognazza, M. R., Lanzani, G. & Benfenati, F. Nanoparticles: A Challenging Vehicle for Neural Stimulation. <i>Front. Neurosci.</i> <b>10</b>, (2016).<br/>5. Maya-Vetencourt, J. F. <i>et al.</i> A fully organic retinal prosthesis restores vision in a rat model of degenerative blindness. <i>Nat. Mater.</i> <b>16</b>, 681–689 (2017).<br/>6. Vurro, V., Venturino, I. & Lanzani, G. A perspective on the use of light as a driving element for bio-hybrid actuation. <i>Appl. Phys. Lett.</i> <b>120</b>, 080502 (2022).<br/>7. Di Maria, F., Lodola, F., Zucchetti, E., Benfenati, F. & Lanzani, G. The evolution of artificial light actuators in living systems: from planar to nanostructured interfaces. <i>Chem. Soc. Rev.</i> <b>47</b>, 4757–4780 (2018).<br/>8. Hopkins, J. <i>et al.</i> Photoactive Organic Substrates for Cell Stimulation: Progress and Perspectives. <i>Adv. Mater. Technol.</i> <b>4</b>, 1800744 (2019).