An organic neurophysiological tool for neuronal metabolic activity monitoring

Abstract

Monitoring cell metabolism in vitro is considered a relevant methodology in several scientific fields ranging from fundamental biology research to neuro-toxicology. In the last 20 years, several in vitro neuro-pharmacological and neuro-toxicological approaches have been developed, with the intent of addressing the increasing demand for real-time, non-invasive in vitro systems capable of continuously and reliably monitoring cellular activity. In this paper, an Organic Charge Modulated Field Effect Transistor-based device is proposed as a promising tool for neuro-pharmacological applications, thanks to its ultra-high pH sensitivity and a simple fabrication technology. The preliminary characterization of this versatile organic device with primary neuronal cultures shows how these remarkable properties can be exploited for the realization of ultra-sensitive metabolic probes, which are both reference-less and low cost. These features, together with the already assessed capability of this sensor to also monitor the electrical activity of electrogenic cells, could provide important advances in the fabrication of multi-sensing lab-on-chip devices, thus opening up interesting perspectives in the neuro-pharmacological field.

Interfacing cells with organic transistors: a review ofin vitroandin vivoapplications

“…As a consequence, a very sensitive device is needed in order to record such modifications. When integrated into a MOA, these devices allowed the monitoring of the metabolic activity of rat primary neurons, as reported in a recent work 121 (Fig. 13), thus demonstrating the interesting potential of using OCMFET-based devices for the realization of multi-sensing tools for cellular applications, able to record at the same time, different useful parameters.…”

<em>In Vitro</em> Multiparametric Cellular Analysis by Micro Organic Charge-modulated Field-effect Transistor Arrays

“…To highlight their health, the cells have been immunostained As previously mentioned, by exploiting the simple physical functionalization presented in the protocol, it was possible to prepare highly sensitive pH sensors with a supernernstian response. Because of the presented fabrication approach, these pH devices could be integrated into an MOA and used to monitor the slight pH variations induced by the metabolic activity of primary hippocampal rat neurons 26 .…”

“…A limitation of the proposed protocol stems from the nature of the functionalization of the OCMFET for pH sensing. The stability of the pH sensors is limited to a few weeks 26 .…”

Organic Bioelectronics for In Vitro Systems

“…These devices have been applied to record both cardiomyocytes 508,509 and neurons. 510 Kyndiah et al constructed an EGOFET array for recording cardiomyocyte action potentials by examining the source−drain current, as mentioned above. Recordings from these devices were qualified using a series of drugs to modulate beating frequencies.…”