Differential fine-tuning of cochlear implant material-cell interactions by femtosecond laser microstructuring.

Cochlear implants (CIs) can restore hearing in deaf patients by electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve. To optimize the electrical stimulation, the number of independent channels must be increased by reduction of connective tissue growth on the electrode surface and selective neuronal cell contact. The femtosecond laser microstructuring of the electrode surfaces was performed to investigate the effect of fibroblast growth on the implant material.

Three-dimensional cell growth on structures fabricated from ORMOCER by two-photon polymerization technique.

Two-photon polymerization technique was applied to generate three-dimensional (3D) scaffold-like structures using the photosensitive organic-inorganic hybrid polymer ORMOCER. The structures were studied with respect to potential applications as scaffold for tissue engineering. Cell counting and comet assay, respectively, demonstrated that doubling time and DNA strand breaks of CHO cells, GFSHR-17 granulosa cells, GM-7373 endothelial cells, and SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells were not affected by ORMOCER.