A novel microphysiometer based on MLAPS for drugs screening

This paper presents a novel microphysiometer for simultaneous measurements of several extracellular ions concentrations in living cells based on MLAPS (multi-light addressable potentiometric sensor). In the microphysiometer, different sensitive membranes are illuminated in parallel with n light sources at different frequencies, the response amplitudes of each frequency component can be measured on-line by parallel processing algorithm. By the experiments, we can analyze the relations of the extracellular environmental H(+), Na(+), K(+), Ca(2+) under the effects of western medicines (dilantin, phenobarbital sodium, penicillin sodium) and Chinese drugs (scutellaria, medlar, hemlock parsley), and estimate the effects of several drugs. As the novel microphysiometer works under regular cell culture conditions, cells can be repeatedly simulated with drugs to complete dose-response curve within a few hours. With the detection of a general parameter (extruded protons and ions), the system can be used to monitor the real-time process of the cells' metabolism, observe the functional responses of different kinds of membrane-bound receptors, evaluate the drugs.