  In electrophysiology, multielectrode array devices (MEA) are the gold
standard for the study of large ensambles of electrogenic cells. In the last
decades, thanks to the adoption of nanotechnologies, the study of physiological
and pathological conditions of electro-active cells in culture have becomes
increasingly accurate. In parallel, studies exploited the integration of
nanostructures with delivering capabilities with single-cell specificity and
high throughput in biosensing platforms. Delivery and recording have
independently led to great advances in neurobiology, however, their integration
on a single chip would give complete insights into pathologies development and
fundamental advancements in drug screening methods. In this work, we
demonstrate how a microfluidic-MEA technology may be used to record both
spontaneous and chemically induced activity in vitro. We propose a device that
can deliver molecules to only a few chosen cells and detecting the response in
cellular activity at multiple sites simultaneously. In addition, will be
discussed how the adoption of nanoporous metamaterial in place of
nanostructures might lower costs and speed up production. Furthermore, this
same material, will be identified for the first time in this work as
photoelectrical modulating material for eliciting electrogenic cells firing
activity. Specifically, by converting NIR laser pulses into stimulatory
currents, plasmonic metamaterials may be employed to induce action potentials.
This method enables remote access to optical pacing with precise spatiotemporal
control, allowing to be used as a valid alternative of the traditional
genetic-based optical stimulation techniques. Therefore, in addition to
pharmaceutical applications, these final characteristics may pave the way for a
new generation of minimally invasive, cellular type-independent all-optical
plasmonic pacemakers and muscle actuators.
