Reusable Floating-Electrode Sensor for the Quantitative Electrophysiological Monitoring of a Nonadherent Cell

Abstract

We report a reusable floating-electrode sensor based on aligned semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes for the quantitative monitoring of the electrophysiological responses from a nonadherent cell. This method allowed us to monitor and distinguish the real-time responses from normal and small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) cells to the addition of nicotine. The difference was attributed to the overexpressed nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in the SCLC cells. The sensor was also utilized to monitor the effect of various drugs on the cells. The treatment with inhibitors such as genistin or daidzein was found to reduce Ca(2+) influx in SCLC cells. Moreover, tamoxifen, though known as the antiestrogen compound, was found to only partly block the binding of daidzein to nAChRs. Significantly, the activities of multiple individual cells could be measured repeatedly using a single sensor device, enabling statistically meaningful measurements without errors from the device-to-device variations of the sensor characteristics. This capability of the quantitative monitoring of nonadherent cells should be a major breakthrough for electrophysiology research and various biomedical applications such as drug screening and therapeutic monitoring.

Reliable clinical serum analysis with reusable electrochemical sensor: Toward point-of-care measurement of the antipsychotic medication clozapine

“…We envision that a reusable sensor would provide greater reliability by avoiding the intrinsic variabilities that arise during sensor fabrication (Lin et al, 2009; Lubin et al, 2006; Ta et al, 2014). Electrode-to-electrode variability remains an unsolved practical challenge for electrochemical analysis (Lubin et al, 2006; Mahshid et al, 2015; Zhou and Rusling, 2001).…”

Quantitative electrophysiological monitoring of anti–histamine drug effects on live cells via reusable sensor platforms

“…3b). Note that since our RSP exhibited p−type characteristics, the increase of a negative potential would cause the increase of its conductance (Ta et al, 2014). The increased conductance was recovered back to the original value after 50 seconds.…”

“…A RSP was fabricated by a method reported in our previous works (Kim et al, 2012;Ta et al, 2014). In brief, glass substrates were soaked into a piranha solution (the 3:1 mixture of a concentrated sulfuric acid solution and a 30% wt.…”

Ion-Selective Carbon Nanotube Field-Effect Transistors for Monitoring Drug Effects on Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Activation in Live Cells

“…Then, nicotine solutions were introduced while monitoring the source-drain current of the sensor. This method allows us to repeatedly measure the responses of individual cells using a single sensor device [ 23 ].…”

“…The patch-clamp technique is regarded as the gold standard for assessing ion channel functionality in live cells, but it requires complex equipment and a skilled operator [ 16 , 17 ]. On the other hand, field-effect transistor (FET) biosensors have been utilized for monitoring the activities of versatile biomolecules, exhibiting some advantages such as a rather straightforward operation and label-free detection [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ]. Recently, FET-based biosensors have been studied as a tool to measure the electrical activities of live cells [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ].…”