Early cells reductive chemistry

A variety of mammalian cells have been successfully cultured onto porous silicon surfaces. The first publications on this topic by Bayliss et al. demonstrated that attachment of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells proceeded on porous silicon surfaces to a similar extent as on bulk silicon (Bayliss et al. 1997a, b). This was also confirmed with the neuronal cell line B50 (Bayliss et al. 2000). Cell viability in these studies was determined using two colorimetric assays, the MTT based on enzymatic reduction of a tetrazolium salt to a purple formazan and the neutral red uptake assay. B50 and CHO cells were cultured on bulk silicon, porous silicon, glass, and polycrystalline silicon. Both viability assays suggested that the neuronal cells showed preference for porous silicon above the other surfaces, while CHO cells showed the lowest viability on the porous silicon surface (Bayliss et al. 1999, 2000). The surfaces of the porous silicon used in these early studies were not modified post-etching, and it was not until a study utilized porous silicon surfaces with an oxide layer for cell culture that surface chemistry was found to play a crucial factor (Chin et al. 2001). Rat... 

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