Lindström Sara, Andersson-Svahn Helene
Division of Nanobiotechnology, School of Biotechnology,Albanova University Center, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 2011 Mar;1810(3):308-16. doi: 10.1016/j.bbagen.2010.04.009. Epub 2010 May 6.
Today, cells are commonly analyzed in ensembles, i.e. thousands of cells per sample, yielding results on the average response of the cells. However, cellular heterogeneity implies the importance of studying how individual cells respond, one by one, in order to learn more about drug targeting and cellular behavior.
This review discusses general aspects on miniaturization of biological assays and in particular summarizes single-cell assays in microwell formats. A range of microwell-based chips are discussed with regard to their well characteristics, cell handling, choice of material etc. along with available detection systems for single-cell studies. History and trends in microsystem technology, various commonly used materials for device fabrication, and conventional methods for single-cell analysis are also discussed, before a closing section with a detailed example from our research in the field.
A range of miniaturized and microwell devices have shown useful for studying individual cells.
In vitro assays offering low volume sampling and rapid analysis in a high-throughput manner are of great interest in a wide range of single-cell applications. Size compatibility between a cell and micron-sized tools has encouraged the field of micro- and nanotechnologies to move into areas such as life sciences and molecular biology. To test as many compounds as possible against a given amount of patient sample requires miniaturized tools where low volume sampling is sufficient for accurate results and on which a high number of experiments per cm(2) can be performed. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Nanotechnologies - Emerging Applications in Biomedicine.
如今，细胞通常是在群体中进行分析，即每个样本分析数千个细胞，得出细胞平均反应的结果。然而，细胞异质性意味着逐一研究单个细胞如何反应非常重要，以便更多地了解药物靶向和细胞行为。
本综述讨论了生物分析小型化的一般方面，尤其总结了微孔形式的单细胞分析。讨论了一系列基于微孔的芯片，涉及其孔的特性、细胞处理、材料选择等，以及用于单细胞研究的可用检测系统。在结尾部分给出我们在该领域研究的详细示例之前，还讨论了微系统技术的历史和趋势、用于器件制造的各种常用材料以及单细胞分析的传统方法。
一系列小型化的微孔器件已被证明对研究单个细胞很有用。
以高通量方式提供低体积采样和快速分析的体外分析在广泛的单细胞应用中备受关注。细胞与微米级工具之间的尺寸兼容性促使微纳技术领域进入生命科学和分子生物学等领域。要针对给定数量的患者样本测试尽可能多的化合物，需要小型化工具，其中低体积采样足以获得准确结果，并且每平方厘米可以进行大量实验。本文是名为“纳米技术——在生物医学中的新兴应用”的特刊的一部分。
