Life on a microarray: assessing live cell functions in a microarray format

Abstract

Microarray technology outgrew the detection of simple intermolecular interactions, as incubation of slides with living cells opened new vistas. Cell-based array technology permits simultaneous detection of several different cell surface molecules, allowing the complex characterization of cells with an amount of information that is hardly assessed by any other technique. Furthermore, binding of cells to printed antibodies or ligands may induce their activation, and consequently the outcome of these interactions, such as phosphorylation, gene expression, secretion of various products; differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis of the cells are also measurable on arrays. Moreover, since cells can be transfected with printed vectors, over- or under-expression of selected genes is also achievable simultaneously, creating a nice tool for assessing the function of a given gene. The enormously high-throughput cell-based microarray technology enables testing the effect of external stimuli on a scale that was earlier unthinkable. This review summarizes the possible applications of cell-based arrays.

Droplet-microarray on superhydrophobic–superhydrophilic patterns for high-throughput live cell screenings

“…High-throughput gain-or loss-of-function cell experiments are key to understanding gene and protein functions 2,4,8,9 . Most of such HTS experiments are performed either using standard microplates or using Sabatini´s reverse cell transfection arrays.…”

“…Cell microarray technology thus permits high throughput parallel gene over-expression or knockout experiments, low reagent and cell consumption, and easy, pipetting-free handling. Many research groups adopted this method for their scientific discoveries 2,4,8,9 . Later applications of cell microarrays were extended to screenings of small drug like molecules.…”

Cell-Based Microarrays for In Vitro Toxicology

“…Analysis of the entire CMA provides a detailed profile of the individuals within the cell population under study. Depending on the identity and number of recognition molecules, such an array can be used for providing detailed characterization of a cell suspension with respect to the population's cell surface markers (62). These approaches can be used for not only population profiling, but also for preparing arrays with a maximum number of different cells that can then be screened for their functional response to a chemical that is simultaneously applied to all cells on the CMA via the bathing fluid.…”

“…These approaches can be used for not only population profiling, but also for preparing arrays with a maximum number of different cells that can then be screened for their functional response to a chemical that is simultaneously applied to all cells on the CMA via the bathing fluid. So in contrast to screening chemical libraries on one cell type, here a library of cells from different organs or species is screened for a functional response to a given chemical (62).…”

“…Only a few examples (see Section 5) have been described that are beyond the proof-of-concept level. Cell microarrays, however, have been widely applied for cell profiling, i.e., the structural analysis of cell surface molecules such as glycans, lectins, T-cell receptors, or adhesion receptors (62). With the enormous spot density realized on molecular microarrays, it is possible to screen for thousands of cell surface markers in a single experiment.…”