Adhesion Stabilized en Masse Intracellular Electrical Recordings from Multicellular Assemblies.

Area of Science:

• Bioelectronics
• Cellular Electrophysiology
• Tissue Engineering

Background:

• Multicellular assemblies exhibit collective electrochemical signals crucial for physiological processes.
• Existing techniques lack the resolution and duration for long-term, en masse intracellular recordings.
• Understanding collective cell behavior requires methods to capture global electrochemical activity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a bioelectrical interface for en masse intracellular recordings in large cell collectives.
• To enable long-term, high-resolution monitoring of collective electrochemical signals.
• To investigate the dynamics of cellular adhesion and interface stabilization during recording.

Main Methods:

• Developed low impedance vertical gold nanoelectrode interfaces.
• Utilized nanoelectrodes for penetrating cell membranes during cellular adhesion.
• Recorded intracellular electrochemical potentials in NRK fibroblast, C2C12 myotube, and SH-SY5Y neuronal networks.

Main Results:

• Nanoelectrode intracellular access correlated with substrate adhesion dynamics.
• Focal adhesion complexes and actin bundles stabilized the electrode-cell interface.
• Stable, high signal-to-noise intracellular recordings were achieved for several days.
• Basal and pharmacologically altered electrical signals were successfully monitored.

Conclusions:

• The novel bioelectrical interface allows stable, long-term, en masse intracellular recordings in large electrically coupled cell assemblies.
• The interface mechanism involves cellular adhesion dynamics and cytoskeletal reinforcement.
• This technology provides a new tool for studying collective cell electrophysiology and its role in biological processes.