Abstract Soft biointerfaces that maintain intimate contact with the smooth but curved tissue and organ surfaces are critical for providing reliable readouts of in vivo electrical activity. In contrast to conventional biodegradable class of silk scaffolds, we report for the first time, nontransient, or sustainable and implantable silk fibroin bionic interfaces for direct electrical recording of a variety of biopotentials such as neural activity from the peripheral nerves and the cortex. This new class of soft and flexible interfaces are enabled by a silk fibroin-based strategy that relies on substrates and superstrates of nontransient water-stable silk for supporting the electrode constructs. We present SILK-SEAL that involves soft assembly of thin silk layers resulting in a silk sandwich, and QUICK-SILK, an elastomer-silk bandage backing enabling fully functional silk electrode sensors that can be securely deployed in vivo. The resulting novel thin film devices achieve biopotential recording from the peripheral nerve and the cortex in a rodent model, thanks to the thin form factor of the silk film appliques that enable conformal lamination on the target tissue surfaces, and the adhesive elastomer-silk backing, a suture-free approach that assists in pasting and securing the arrays in place. The neural recording experiments demonstrate a novel mode of use for the silk sensors as non-dissolvable biointerfaces, providing evidence for their application in preclinical research studies. The silk interfaces reported here, serve as the first significant leap towards non-dissolvable silk bioelectronics for in vivo use.

中文翻译：

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用于柔软、保形仿生链接的非瞬态丝绸三明治

摘要 与光滑但弯曲的组织和器官表面保持密切接触的软生物界面对于提供可靠的体内电活动读数至关重要。与传统的可生物降解类丝支架相比，我们首次报告了非瞬态或可持续和可植入的丝素蛋白仿生接口，用于直接电记录各种生物电势，例如来自周围神经和皮层的神经活动。这种新型的柔软和灵活的界面是通过基于丝素蛋白的策略实现的，该策略依赖于非瞬态水稳定丝的基底和覆层来支撑电极结构。我们展示了 SILK-SEAL，它涉及薄丝绸层的软组装，从而形成丝绸三明治，以及 QUICK-SILK，一种弹性体丝绸绷带背衬，使功能齐全的丝绸电极传感器能够在体内安全部署。由此产生的新型薄膜装置实现了啮齿动物模型中外周神经和皮层的生物电势记录，这要归功于丝膜贴花的薄外形，能够在目标组织表面进行保形层压，以及粘性弹性体丝绸背衬，一种有助于将阵列粘贴和固定到位的无缝合方法。神经记录实验证明了丝传感器作为不可溶解的生物界面的新使用模式，为其在临床前研究中的应用提供了证据。此处报道的丝界面是向用于体内使用的不可溶解丝生物电子学的第一次重大飞跃。