Cellular Prostheses: Functional Abiotic Nanosystems to Probe, Manipulate, and Endow Function in Live Cells

A class of nanoscale (~1-10nm) structures designed to probe, manipulate, or endow function by direct interfacing with live cells is considered. Such a concept of cellular level prostheses is illustrated via the example of light-activated nanoscale photodiodes capable of creating local electric fields that modulate existing voltage gated ion channels in excitable cells. The dynamics of the membrane potential modulation by such photovoltaic functional abiotic nanosystems (PV-FANs) is modeled through an appropriate equivalent circuit. The feasibility of exceeding the typical ~10mV depolarization threshold for activating the action potentials is examined. In view of the continuing advances in the ability to design, synthesize and characterize abiotic nanoscale systems that can provide desired function, several approaches to the implementation of PV-FANs are discussed. The FANs as “cellular prostheses” can provide a variety of functions in response to different stimuli and represent a paradigm changing opportunity at the frontiers of Nanomedicine.