Tailoring substrates for long-term organotypic culture of adult neuronal tissue.

Organotypic tissue cultures are highly promising for performing in vivo type studies in vitro. Currently, however, very limited survival times of only a few days for adult tissue often severely limit their application. Here, superhydrophilic nanostructured substrates with ideal material properties ensure tissue adhesion, essential for organotypic culture, while migration of single cells out of the tissue is hampered. Tuning substrate properties, for the first time, adult neuronal tissue could be cultured for 14 days with no indications of degeneration.