ORALS

Cells in the body reside in dynamic mechanical milieus and can sense mechanical forces and then translate them into biochemical signals via mechanotransduction. Reactive oxygen/nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) are closely involved in cellular oxidative stress and physiopathological states, and real-time acquiring the information of ROS and RNS signaling during cell mechanotransduction is vitally important to reveal their complicated roles. Owing to rapid response and excellent sensitivity, electrochemical sensing has been extensively used for tracking ROS/RNS signaling in living cells. However, conventional electrochemical sensors are rigid and fail to comply with the shape changes of soft cells, and this greatly limits the accurate measurement of ROS/RNS signaling during cell mechanotransduction. To this end, we have designed a series of stretchable electrodes based on gold nanotubes, carbon nanotubes and conductive polymer nanofibers [1,2]. These sensors possess good electrochemical stability against mechanical deformations and can be easily deformed to achieve the dynamic stretching of cells. Further, we have also introduced high-performance catalysts (e.g, platinum nanoparticles and biomimetic catalysts) to confer the stretchable sensing interfaces with prominent electrocatalytic property toward ROS and RNS [3]. Based on these stretchable electrochemical sensors, we have successively achieved the real-time monitoring of stretch-induced NO and H2O2 molecules [3,4], and the simultaneous monitoring of them by a single device during endothelial mechanotransduction [5]. Besides, the developed stretchable electrochemical sensors have been also employed to explore the ROS and RNS signaling during mechanotransduction of chondrocytes and lung cells, which demonstrate excessive or acute mechanical loading can evoke severe oxidative stress [2]. These researches present efficient platforms to evaluate the oxidative stress level in dynamic mechanotransduction, which benefit to the understanding of the role of mechanical cues in cell biology.

References:
[1] Y.L. Liu, Z.H. Jin, Y.H. Liu, X.B. Hu, Y. Qin, J.Q. Xu, C.F. Fan, W.H. Huang. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 55 (2016) 4537-4541.
[2] Y.L. Liu, W.H. Huang. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 60 (2020) 2757-2767.
[3] W.T. Fan, Y. Qin, X.B. Hu, J. Yan, W.T. Wu, Yan, Y.L. Liu, W.H Huang. Anal. Chem. 92 (2020) 15639-15646.
[4] Y.L. Liu, Y. Qin, Z.H. Jin, X.B. Hu, M.M. Chen, R. Liu, C. Amatore, W.H Huang. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 56 (2017) 9454-9458.
[5] W.T. Fan, Y. Zhao, W.T. Wu, Y. Qin, J. Yan, Y.L. Liu, W.H Huang. Anal. Chem. 94 (2022) 7425-7432.