In silico cell electrophysiology for measuring transcellular calcium currents

Abstract

Trans-cellular calcium currents play a central role in the establishment of polarity in differentiating cells. Typically these currents are measured and studied experimentally using ion selective glass microelectrodes. We have recently developed an in silico cell electrophysiology lab-on-a-chip device with the specific science objectives of measuring these transcellular calcium currents in an advanced throughput format. The device consists of 16 pyramidal pores on a silicon substrate with four Ag/AgCl electrodes leading into each pore on the four poles. An SU-8 layer is used as the structural and insulating layer and a calcium ion selective membrane is used to impart ion selectivity to the Ag/AgCl electrodes. In this paper we demonstrate the utility of the cell electrophysiology biochip in measuring these transcellular calcium currents from single cells using the model biological system Ceratopteris richardii. We monitored these fern spores during germination and pharmacologically inhibited biophysical calcium transport. These results demonstrate the utility and versatility of the in silico cell electrophysiology biochip. While this version of the biochip was engineered to fulfill the specific science objectives of measuring trans-cellular calcium currents from Ceratopteris fern spores, the chip can easily be modified for a variety of biomedical and pharmacological applications. Future applications will be based on incorporating multiple analyte detection, amperometry, and biosensors into the device.