Biosensing based on surface plasmon resonance and living cells

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Biosensing
• Cellular Biology

Background:

• Cellular activity and morphology changes are key indicators of biological responses.
• Existing biosensing methods may not fully capture dynamic cellular changes.
• Developing sensitive methods to monitor real-time cellular responses is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish and validate a biosensing platform using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) combined with living cells.
• To investigate the correlation between cellular morphology changes and SPR signal variations upon stimulation.
• To demonstrate the applicability of this method for detecting various cellular responses.

Main Methods:

• Utilized surface plasmon resonance (SPR) on a gold-coated surface with living cells.
• Applied external agents including lipopolysaccharides, sodium azide, and thrombin to stimulate cells.
• Monitored SPR signal changes and compared them with phase contrast microscopy observations.

Main Results:

• SPR signal variations correlated with cell death induced by lipopolysaccharides.
• Observed cell body contraction in response to sodium azide, reflected in SPR signals.
• Thrombin stimulation showed a biphasic SPR response linked to cell contraction, gap changes, and subsequent cell spreading.

Conclusions:

• The combined SPR-living cell biosensing method accurately reflects cellular responses to various stimuli.
• The technique is sensitive to morphological changes like cell contraction and spreading.
• This validated biosensing approach holds potential for diverse applications in studying cellular behavior.