Diatom incorporated electrospun nanofibers for cell adhesion

A key focus in the field of nanobiotechnology involves engineering nanoscale biofriendly structures with multiple functionalities and designing synthetic analogues of the extracellular matrix (ECM) by tailoring surface properties of these constructs. In this study, a novel GMT8 aptamer-functionalized electrospun nanofiber (NFs) platform incorporating diatom (DA)-based biosilica (BS)-(3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES)-modified poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) was developed for adhesion and electrochemical detection of U-87 MG glioblastoma cells. PVDF/BS-APTES NFs were produced using the electrospinning technique. The U-87 MG-targeting GMT8 aptamer was covalently immobilized onto the PVDF/BS-APTES NFs-modified screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) via succinimidyl-trans-4-(N-maleimidylmethyl)cyclohexane-1-carboxylate (sulfo-SMCC) chemistry. The developed PVDF/BS-APTES/GMT8 NFs biofunctional surface were characterized by Attenuated Total Reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometer (SEM-EDS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques. Afterward, electrochemical measurements were carried out with PVDF/BS-APTES/GMT8 NFs modified SPCE in the presence of U-87 MG cells. The linear detection range for U-87 MG cells was found to be 10–10⁶ cells/mL. This study represents the first demonstration of GMT8 aptamer-modified DA-based BS NFs as a biofunctional adhesion platform for electrochemical detection and fluorescence imaging of U-87 MG cells, offering a promising approach for developing targeted cell-adhesion interfaces.