Nanobioelectronics Laboratory (NBEL), Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
The Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, The Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell (RMSC) Research Center, The Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
Sci Rep. 2022 Feb 28;12(1):3248. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-07194-4.
Microfluidics is a highly useful platform for culturing, monitoring, and testing biological cells. The integration of electrodes into microfluidic channels extends the functionality, sensing, and testing capabilities of microfluidic systems. By employing an electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technique, the non-invasive, label-free detection of the activities of cells in real-time can be achieved. To address the movement toward spatially resolving cells in cell culture, we developed a sensory system capable of electro-addressing cell location within a microfluidic channel. This simple system allows for real-time cell location, integrity monitoring (of barrier producing cells), and confluency sensing without the need for frequent optical evaluation-saving time. EIS results demonstrate that cells within microfluidic channels can be located between various pairs of electrodes at different positions along the length of the device. Impedance spectra clearly differentiates between empty, sparse, and confluent microfluidic channels. The system also senses the level of cell confluence between electrode pairs-allowing for the relative quantification of cells in different areas of the microfluidic channel. The system's electrode layout can easily be incorporated into other devices. Namely, organ-on-a-chip devices, that require the monitoring of precise cell location and confluency levels for understanding tissue function, modeling diseases, and for testing therapeutics.
微流控技术是培养、监测和测试生物细胞的一种非常有用的平台。将电极集成到微流道中，扩展了微流控系统的功能、传感和测试能力。通过采用电化学阻抗谱（EIS）技术，可以实现对细胞实时活动的非侵入性、无标记检测。为了解决细胞培养中向空间分辨率的发展趋势，我们开发了一种能够在微流道内电寻址细胞位置的传感系统。这个简单的系统允许实时定位细胞、监测屏障形成细胞的完整性以及无需频繁进行光学评估的细胞融合感应，从而节省时间。EIS 结果表明，微流道内的细胞可以在不同位置的各个电极对之间定位。阻抗谱清楚地区分了空的、稀疏的和融合的微流道。该系统还可以检测电极对之间的细胞融合程度，从而允许对微流道不同区域的细胞进行相对定量。该系统的电极布局可以轻松地集成到其他设备中，例如器官芯片设备，这些设备需要监测精确的细胞位置和融合程度，以了解组织功能、模拟疾病和测试治疗方法。
