Nanoengineered Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Substrates for Probing Tissue–Material Interactions

Innovation in biomaterials has brought both breakthroughs and challenges in medicine, as implant materials have become increasingly multifunctional and complex. One of the greatest issues is the difficulty in assessing the temporal and multidimensional dynamics of tissue-implant interactions. Implant biology remains difficult to decipher without a noninvasive and multiplexed technique that can accurately monitor real-time biological processes. To address this, we developed a multifunctional, self-sensing implant material composed of gold nanocolumns patterned on a titanium surface (AuNC-Ti). This material acts as a nanoengineered surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate that amplifies biological Raman signals at the tissue-implant interface, providing the ability to sense tissue-material interactions in a multiplexed and nondestructive manner. AuNC-Ti SERS substrates were fabricated using oblique angle deposition (OAD) and characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to show uniform formation of AuNCs (360 ± 40 nm in length and 50 ± 16 nm in width). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and contact angle measurements demonstrated a biocompatible surface chemistry with ideal wettability. Biocompatibility was further demonstrated via <i>in vitro</i> cytotoxicity assays on human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) cultured on AuNC-Ti surfaces. The median SERS enhancement factor (EF) was calculated to be 1.8 × 10⁵, and spatial identification of reporter molecules and porcine tissue components on AuNC-Ti surfaces was demonstrated by using confocal Raman imaging and multivariate analysis. Our approach utilizes unlabeled SERS and machine learning techniques, promising multiplexed characterization of tissue-material interactions and subsequently enabling tissue state determination and noninvasive monitoring of implant-tissue interaction.