The Measurement and Analysis of Impedance Response of HeLa Cells to Distinct Chemotherapy Drugs

Abstract

Electric cell–substrate impedance sensing exhibits a real-time and label-free feature to monitor the response of cells stimulated by various biochemical and mechanical signals. Alterations in the currents passing through the cell–electrode system characterize the impedance variations of cells. The impedance responses of HeLa cells under distinct chemotherapy drugs combine the effects of cell proliferation and cell–substrate adhesion. Optimal interdigitated electrodes were selected to explore the impedance responses of HeLa cells. Measurements of impedance of cells in response to three widely used chemotherapy drugs in clinical practice, namely cisplatin, doxorubicin, 5-fluorouracil, were performed. The results demonstrated that distinct impedance responses of HeLa cells to drugs were exhibited and a decrease in measured impedance was observed after drug treatment, accompanied by alterations in the distribution and intensity of the adhesion-related protein vinculin and the rate of cell proliferation. The link between the impedance profiles of HeLa cells and their biological functions was developed based on the circuit model. This study demonstrated the weights of cell proliferation and adhesion of HeLa cells under the treatments of DDP, DOX, and 5-FU, resulted in distinct impedance responses of cells, providing an impedance-based evaluation methodology for cervical cancer treatment.

Optimization design of interdigitated microelectrodes with an insulation layer on the connection tracks to enhance efficiency of assessment of the cell viability

“…Different sample components can be selected and analyzed by varying the signal frequency, enabling researchers to determine the dielectric features of the tested cells, such as conductivity and permittivity, and consequently, define their composition and structure. By analyzing the dielectric properties of cells and tissues, µEIS can be used to diagnose various diseases [ 32 – 34 ]. Another promising application that can be used with µEIS is to monitor the response and behavior of bacterial cells, evaluate different treatment techniques, and analyze the metabolic activity of the cells [ 35 ], as described in [ 33 , 36 ].…”