In Situ Detection of Kidney Organoid Generation From Stem Cells Using a Simple Electrochemical Method

Abstract

Organoids that mimic the structural and cellular characteristics of kidneys in vitro have recently emerged as a promising source for biomedical research. However, uncontrollable cellular heterogeneity after differentiation often results in the generation of off-target cells, one of the most challenging issues in organoid research. This study proposes a new method that enables the real-time assessment of kidney organoids derived from stem cells. When placed on a conductive surface, these organoids generate unique electrochemical signals at ≈0.3 V with intensities proportional to the amount of kidney-specific cell types. Off-target cells (i.e., non-kidney cells) produce an electrical signature at 0 V that is distinguishable from other surrounding cell types, enabling non-destructive assessment of both the differentiation, and maturation levels of kidney organoids. The developed platform can be applied to other types of organoids and is thus highly promising as a tool for organoid-based drug screening, toxicity assessment, and therapeutics.

Ultrathin Graphdiyne/Graphene Heterostructure as a Robust Electrochemical Sensing Platform

“…Due to the high sensitivity, fast response time, and wide detection range of electrochemical sensors, they have been widely used in the fields of disease detection, − environmental monitoring, , drug screening, , and so forth. The electrode material plays an important role in electrochemical sensors as it can affect the detection in terms of the rate of heterogeneous electron transfer (e.g., response time), the double-layer capacitance (e.g., limit of detection), and the nature of the coupling chemistry.…”

Recent Advances of Biosensor-Integrated Organ-on-a-Chip Technologies for Diagnostics and Therapeutics

“…Though organoids showed resemblance to kidneys morphologically and in cellular features facilitating drug screening, toxicity assays, and therapeutics, off-target cells do get developed owing to uncontrollable cell heterogeneity post differentiation. This study enabled unique electrochemical signal generation at ∼0.3 V with intensity proportionate to the kidney-specific cells on a conductive surface . The latest kidney-based sensing was established to show that kidney epithelial cells are active mechanobiological fluid pumps.…”

Recent Advances in Electrochemical Biosensors for Monitoring Animal Cell Function and Viability

“…PSCs are extremely sensitive to the ECM, which is a biological reservoir for cell growth and differentiation factors. Suhito et al addressed this issue and proposed an HCGN platform modified on a transparent indium tin oxide (ITO) glass for the precise detection of hPSCs and the real-time monitoring of kidney organoid differentiation via simple electrochemical detection (e.g., differential pulse voltammetry, DPV; Figure 6 A) [ 67 ]. This platform can detect PSC-specific electrical signals ranging from 21,000 cells to 157,000 cells; the limit of detection (LOD) of the proposed platform is 21,363 cells.…”

“…( F ) Cyclic voltammetry (CV) graph of time-dependent monitoring of hMSCs during osteogenic differentiation. Reprinted with permission from [ 67 ]. Copyright 2022, Wiley Online Library; reprinted with permission from [ 114 ].…”

“…During the differentiations, the successful differentiations and maturations should be electrochemically monitored for the application of these systems in regenerative medicine and stem cell-based therapeutics [ 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 ]. In addition, electrochemical biosensing can be used to monitor stem cell functions and differentiation without damaging cells or applying any labeling [ 57 , 67 ].…”