Intracellular Recording of Cardiomyocyte Action Potentials by Nanoelectrode Arrays

Abstract

Recent years have seen numerous applications of nanoelectronic devices for cell electrophysiology measurements. Here we present vertically aligned Pt and Au nanopillar arrays for both extracellular and intracellular recording of HL-1 cardiomyocytes. The small footprint of our nanopillar arrays holds the advantage of high spatial resolution recording. We discover that the tight cell membrane-electrode interface allows recording of a large extracellular signal despite the small detection area. After local electroporation of the cell membrane around the pillars, we demonstrate intracellular recording of action potentials. Because this method is minimally invasive, we are able to record action potentials from the same cell over a span of three days.