Nanostructured scaffolds containing graphene oxide for nanomedicine applications

The use of graphene oxide (GO) has become widespread due to its advantageous properties for applications in medical devices, including cell scaffolds and sensors. Investigations on the spectroscopic and electrochemical features of nanostructured cell scaffolds may be of interest to design novel scaffolds architectures aimed at understanding their interactions with healthy and cancer cells. In this study, we investigated the interactions between liver cancer cells and two GO-containing scaffold platforms, namely: cells membrane models containing GO in the form of Langmuir-Blodgett films, and GO-modified biodegradable polycaprolactone nanofibers. Sum-frequency generation spectroscopy revealed the presence and formation of an expanded phospholipid monolayer underneath GO, while scanning electron microscopy images revealed the morphology of the cells on the different surfaces. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was employed to evaluate the charge transfer resistance in different nanostructured scaffolds containing liver cancer cells. The nanosystems developed here can be applied to study the interactions between cells on polymer nanofibers and Langmuir-Blodgett films modified with GO for regenerative medicine.