Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
School of Chemistry, Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
Lab Chip. 2021 Dec 21;22(1):71-79. doi: 10.1039/d1lc00789k.
Transepithelial/transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) is a label-free assay that is commonly used to assess tissue barrier integrity. TEER measurement systems have been embedded in organ-on-a-chip devices to provide live readouts of barrier functionality. Yet, these systems commonly provide the impedance values which correspond to the highest level of permeability throughout the chip and cannot provide localized information on specific regions of interest. This work introduces a system that provides this essential information: a spatial-TEER (S-TEER) organ-on-a-chip platform, which incorporates moving (scanning) electrodes that can measure electrical resistance at any desired location along the chip. We demonstrate the system's capacity to obtain localized measurements of permeability in selected regions of a cell sample. We show how, in a layer with non-uniform levels of cell coverage, permeability is higher in areas with lower cell density-suggesting that the system can be used to monitor local cellular growth . To demonstrate the applicability of the chip in studies of barrier function, we characterize tissue response to TNF-α and to EGTA, agents known to harm tissue barrier integrity.
跨上皮/跨内皮电阻（TEER）是一种无标记检测方法，常用于评估组织屏障完整性。TEER 测量系统已嵌入器官芯片设备中，以提供屏障功能的实时读数。然而，这些系统通常提供与芯片内所有位置最高通透性相对应的阻抗值，而无法提供特定感兴趣区域的局部信息。这项工作引入了一种提供此重要信息的系统：空间-TEER（S-TEER）器官芯片平台，它采用移动（扫描）电极，可以在芯片上的任何所需位置测量电阻。我们展示了该系统在细胞样本选定区域获得局部渗透率测量的能力。我们展示了在具有不均匀细胞覆盖水平的层中，渗透率在细胞密度较低的区域更高，这表明该系统可用于监测局部细胞生长。为了证明该芯片在屏障功能研究中的适用性，我们对 TNF-α和 EGTA 等已知损害组织屏障完整性的药物对组织的反应进行了表征。
