Three-dimensional cell-adhesive matrix of silk cocoon derived carbon fiber assembled with iron-porphyrin for monitoring cell released signal molecules

Abstract Three-dimensional (3D) cell culture and monitoring platforms are arousing great interest due to the simulated in-vivo microenvironment and in-situ sensing capability. Recent advances have been made in fabricating 3D cell culture and monitoring platforms but most of them still suffer from poor biocompatibility or low sensing performance. Herein, a 3D cell-adhesive sensing matrix is designed and fabricated based on silk cocoon derived hierarchical carbon fiber networks (CFN), which are further assembled with iron porphyrin of hemin. The 3D hemin/CFN displays a self-supported behavior, and also excellent biocompatibility for cell adhesion and long-term culture. By directly culturing cells on the surface, the hemin/CFN achieves highly sensitive and selective monitoring of cell released nitric oxide (NO) molecule, which plays important roles as a transcellular messenger in various physiological and pathological processes. The hemin/CFN towards NO sensing delivers a wide linear range from 24.0 nM to 70.9 μM, a detection limit as low as 8.0 nM and a fast response of 1.9 s, retaining its applications in live-cell assays and also exploring physiological processes in complex biological systems.