Conducting Polymer Devices for in vitro Electrophysiology ; Dispositifs à base de Polymères Conducteurs pour l’Électrophysiologie in vitro

Bioelectronics is an emerging field that is aiming to combine the worlds of biology and electronics. Among all the other materials, organics present a unique set of features that renders them ideal candidates for this new field. Their soft nature gives better mechanical stability, while the fact that they can conduct both electrically and ionically makes them ideal candidates to bridge the gap between electronic devices and living tissue. In addition they provide oxide free interfaces that could interact more efficiently with biology and allow chemically modification that increase biological functionality. These ideas, together with the organic devices fabrication approaches are presented in Chapter 1.Electrodes are the main experimental tool for electrophysiology and this is why Chapter 2 presents the main physics principle behind them. Chapters 3 and 4 implement the knowledge obtained from the electrode modeling to real biological measurements. Chapter 3 presents activity recordings from Hippocampal cell cultures and Chapter 4 form pancreatic cells. Chapter 5 introduces us to a different device as it presents the Organic electrochemical transistor (OECT) and presents a read out circuit board that could facilitate OECT electrophysiological recordings. Chapter 6 closes this thesis with an application of OECT on astrocyte recordings. ; La bioélectronique est un domaine émergent qui vise à combiner les mondes de la biologie et de l'électronique. Les matériaux organiques présentent un ensemble de caractéristiques uniques qui les rendent candidats idéaux pour répondre aux contraintes spécifiques de ce domaine. Leur flexibilité leur donne une meilleure stabilité mécanique, tandis que leur nature de conducteurs ioniques et électroniques leur permet d’interférer parfaitement entre un tissu vivant et un dispositif électronique. En outre, ils présentent des interfaces non oxydées pour des interactions biologiques plus efficaces. Il est également possible de modifier chimiquement ces matériaux afin de les fonctionnaliser. ...