Raman micro-spectroscopy study of living SH-SY5Y cells adhering on different substrates

In this paper we test the ability of Raman micro-spectroscopy and Raman mapping to investigate the status of cells grown in adhesion on different substrates. The spectra of immortalized SH-SY5Y cells, grown on silicon and on metallic substrates are compared with those obtained for the same type of cells adhering on organic polyaniline (PANI), a memristive substrate chosen to achieve a living bio-hybrid system. Raman spectra give information on the status of the single cell, its local biochemical composition, and on the modifications induced by the substrate interaction. The good agreement between Raman spectra collected from cells adhering on different substrates confirms that the PANI, besides allowing the cell growth, doesn't strongly affect the general biochemical properties of the cell. The investigation of the cellular state in a label free condition is challenging and the obtained results confirm the Raman ability to achieve this information.