A portable standalone wireless electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) system for assessing dynamic behavior of mammalian cells

Uvanesh Kasiviswanathan,Chandan Kumar,Suruchi Poddar,Sanjeev Kumar Mahto,Satyabrata Jit,Neeraj Sharma

doi:10.1186/s40543-020-00223-9

Uvanesh Kasiviswanathan, Chandan Kumar + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40543-020-00223-9

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Abstract

In this study, we have developed a wireless, portable, standalone, and simple electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) system to analyze in-depth functional aspects of cellular functions on the surface of a co-planar metal electrode coated on conventional glass substrate using a low-cost circuitry and correlated it with an equivalent electrical circuit (EEC) model. Low-cost circuitry was used for studying the dynamic behavior of the mouse myoblast cells (C2C12) in a culture chamber. Further, the developed ECIS system was connected with 8-bit Arduino UNO microcontroller board for establishing a compact sized measuring unit, which can be placed inside a CO2 incubator to provide proper environmental condition for the biological cells during the entire measuring time. Integrating ZigBee RF module with the 8-bit Arduino UNO microcontroller board provides a wireless communication network. Theoretical calculation of the lumped-elemental electrical parameters associated with cell-electrolyte interface and metal-electrolyte interface was calculated. The calculation was performed by fitting the experimental impedance data to EEC model using least mean square method to determine the dynamic and vital functions of the mammalian cells such as proliferation (in real-time) with a change in intrinsic electrical parameters associated at any particular time point. Impedance measurements and the lumped-elemental electrical parameter were correlated with the respective microscopic images. The developed ECIS system was found to enable measuring of the extent of cellular proliferation over time. The compactness of the developed ECIS system integrated with the ZigBee RF module and the 8-bit Arduino UNO microcontroller board facilitates its utilization even when placed in the CO2 incubator for a prolonged time.

Highlights

A cell is the basic building block of all organisms, which governs all functioning aspects of the complex heterogeneous biological system
After 3 h of culture, the shape of the cells was observed to be spheroid-like structure; indicating that the cells were either not at all adhered or still preparing themselves to undergo through the process of adhesion on the surface of the substrate
The results were found in compliance with other reported papers concerning the phenomenon of the micromotion of the cells well before the adhesion on the substrate (Lo et al 1995; Siddiquei et al 2010; Tsong 1989; Zimmermann and Vienken 1982)

Summary

Introduction

A cell is the basic building block of all organisms, which governs all functioning aspects of the complex heterogeneous biological system. Any abnormality in a single cell affects the entire characteristic behavior of tissues, organs, and even organisms (Das et al 2014). It Kasiviswanathan et al Journal of Analytical Science and Technology (2020) 11:25 extracellular matrix (ECM) with the help of transmembrane proteins called integrins (Gelsinger et al 2019). The integrins form a focal adhesion complex along with the actin filaments of the cell cytoskeleton (Horwitz 1997). The formation of focal adhesion triggers signals that direct proliferation, adhesion, differentiation, cell migration, and other morphological changes (Khalili and Ahmad 2015). The commonly used techniques to monitor cell proliferation and viability include fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry, and single endpoint assays such as WST-1 assay, XTT, MTT assay, and BrdU assay (Mondal and RoyChaudhuri 2018)

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Results

Conclusion