Label-Free Acetylcholine Image Sensor Based on Charge Transfer Technology for Biological Phenomenon Tracking

Abstract

A 32 ×32 charge-transfer enzyme-type acetylcholine (ACh) image sensor array was produced for label-free tracking of images of ACh distribution and its performance in repeatable measurements without enzyme deactivation was examined. The proposed sensor was based on a charge-transfer-type pH image sensor, which was modified using an enzyme membrane (acetylcholine esterase, AChE) for each pixel. The ACh image sensor detected hydrogen ions generated by the ACh–AChE reaction. A polyion complex membrane composed of poly(L-lysine) and poly(4-styrenesulfonate) was used to immobilize the enzyme on the sensor. The improved uniformity and adhesion of the polyion complex membrane were evaluated in this study. As a result, temporal and spatial fluctuations of the ACh image sensor were successfully minimized using this approach. The sensitivity of the sensor was 4.2 mV/mM, and its detection limit was 20 µM. In five repeated measurements, the repeatability was 8.8%.