Abstract

The possibility of seamlessly integrating sense organs with device components and circuits consisting of soft electronic materials on biocompatible substrates offers useful options to monitor-enhance-augment natural response to various stimuli. In this line of pursuit, we have designed a 3-D Microfluidic device (MD) with the capability of auto bubble guidance geometry in our laboratory which has recently been used to study long-term recordings from primary retina explant of chick embryo at different stages of development. The unambiguous signature of the functioning of a developed retina is the characteristic electroretinogram (ERG) waveform in the multielectrode (MEA) recording and is utilized to demonstrate the efficacy of the approach. Besides the MEA , a remote, non-contact sensor to extract signals at cellular levels in non-invasive manner is also demonstrated. Signal elicited from developing retina (day-14 in absence of photoreceptors) upon photoexcitation of the underlying optoelectronic polymer substrates is compared to response of mature retina (day-21). A general background and motivation for these studies will be presented.