Real-time monitoring of cellular responses to carbon nanotubes

Dynamic cellular responses to carbon nanotubes were monitored by a real-time cell electronic sensing assay. This approach is based on the parallel impedance measurement of attached cells using electronic sensors integrated in wells of 96-well E-plate. It measures the real-time multiparameter index of cell growth named cell index (CI), which reflects the cell proliferation, morphology, attachment, and spreading. The label-free, real-time, and high-throughput assay overcomes many drawbacks in current optical based cytotoxicity assays in carbon nanotubes research, and enables dynamic monitoring of cellular responses to carbon nanotubes.