Electric Communication between the Inner Part of a Cell and an Electrode: The Way To Look inside a Cell

Abstract

A strategy to assemble cells on a solid support surface, here the surface of a gold electrode, is developed by transfecting cells with thiolated DNA molecules which have been immobilized on the gold electrode surface in advance. This strategy to assemble cells can present a general and convenient method for cell assembly on a solid support surface. What is more interesting, since efficient electric communication via the thiolated DNA between the electroactive species inside the cells and the substrate electrode can be achieved, an approach to "look" into the inner part of the cells is proposed. For the test in this work, one drug, kaempferol, and one dye molecule, methylene blue, inside the cells have been detected by the commonly used electrochemical method linear scan voltammetry, and satisfactory results have been obtained.