Nanotechnologies for stimulating and recording excitable events in neurons and cardiomyocytes

Nanotechnologies are engineered materials and devices that have a functional organization in at least one dimension on the nanometer scale, ranging from a few to about 100 nanometers. Functionally, nanotechnologies can display physical, chemical, and engineering properties that go beyond the component building block molecules or structures that make them up. Given such properties and the physical scale involved, these technologies are capable of interacting and interfacing with target cells and tissues in unique ways. One particular emerging application of wide spread interest is the development of nanotechnologies for stimulating and recording excitable cells such as neurons and cardiomyocytes. Such approaches offer the possibility of achieving high density stimulation and recording at sub-cellular resolutions in large populations of cells. This would provide a scale of electrophysiological interactions with excitable cells beyond anything achievable by current existing methods. In this review we introduce the reader to the key concepts and methods associated with nanotechnology and nanoengineering, and discuss the work of some of the key groups developing nanoscale stimulation and recording technologies.