Abstract

We report a flexible and noninvasive method based on field-effect transistors hybridizing semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes for monitoring the effects of histamine on Ca2+ release from the intracellular stores of a nonexcitable cell. These nanodevices allowed us to evaluate the real-time electrophysiological activities of HeLa cells under the stimulation of histamine via the recording of the conductance changes of the devices. These changes resulted from the binding of histamine to its receptor type 1 on the HeLa cell membrane. Moreover, the effects of chlorphenamine, an antihistamine, on the electrophysiological activities of a single HeLa cell were also evaluated, indicating that the pretreatment of the cell with chlorpheniramine decreased intracellular Ca2+ release. Significantly, we only utilized a single nanodevice to perform the measurements for multiple cells pretreated with various concentrations of chlorphenamine. This enabled the statistically meaningful analysis of drug effects on cells without errors from device variations. Obtained results indicated the novel advantages of our method such as real-time monitoring and quantitative capability. Our devices, therefore, can be efficient tools for biomedical applications such as electrophysiology research and drug screening.

Highlights

  • Intracellular Ca2+ stores have been verified to be associated with many electrophysiological activities in various cell lines, including HeLa cells

  • Semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes, histamine, chlorphenamine, and other chemical reagents were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich and used as received. e ssCNTs had a diameter of 0.7–1.1 nm and a length of 300–2300 nm

  • In our work, HeLa cells were located in the junction area of a device, but they were not directly cultured on the device surfaces. is method allows us to exclude the binding of cell surface proteins to CNTs and maintain the primary characteristics of SCN devices

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Summary

Introduction

Intracellular Ca2+ stores have been verified to be associated with many electrophysiological activities in various cell lines, including HeLa cells. Several possible mechanisms of Ca2+ release from intracellular stores have been discovered. E intracellular Ca2+ release regulated by inositol 1, 4, 5-triphosphates (IP3) is a main mechanism among them, which plays an important function in cellular reactions relating to various diseases [1–3]. The activation of histamine H1 receptors (H1Rs) embedded in the plasma membrane of HeLa cells leads to the formation of cytosolic IP3. Based on the monitoring of the membrane potential change, the histamine effects on the activities of the Ca2+ stores could be evaluated. To monitor the electrophysiological effects on the cells, detection tools need to be sensitive and reliable

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