The effect of gallium nitride on long-term culture induced aging of neuritic function in cerebellar granule cells

Gallium nitride (GaN) has been developed for a variety of microelectronic and optical applications due to its unique electric property and chemical stability. In the present study, n-type and p-type GaN were used as substrates to culture cerebellar granule neurons to examine the effect of GaN on cell response for a long-term culture period. It was found that GaN could rapidly induce cultured neurons to exhibit a high phosphorylated Akt level after 20 h of incubation. It was assumed that the anti-apoptotic effect of Akt phosphorylation could be correlated with cell survival, neurite growth and neuronal function for up to 35 days of incubation. Morphological studies showed GaN induced larger neuronal aggregates and neurite fasciculation to exhibit a dense fiber network after 8 days of incubation. Western blot analysis and immunocytochemical characterization showed that GaN still exhibited the expression of neurite growth and function, such as high levels of GAP-43, synapsin I and synaptophysin even after 35 days of incubation. In addition, survival of cerebellar granule neurons on GaN was improved by the analysis of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release from damaged cells. These results indicated that neuronal connections were formed on GaN by a gradual process from Akt activation and cell aggregation to develop neurite growth, fasciculation and function. Therefore, GaN offers a good model system to identify a well-characterized pattern of neuronal behavior for a long-term culture period, consistent with the development of a neurochip requiring the integration of biological system and semiconductor material.