Three-Dimensional Cardiomyocyte-Nanobiosensing System for Specific Recognition of Drug Subgroups

Abnormal cardiac electrophysiological activities significantly contribute to the incidence of cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, it is crucial to recognize effective drugs, which require an accurate, stable, and sensitive platform. Although conventional extracellular recordings offer a non-invasive and label-free manner to monitor the electrophysiological state of cardiomyocytes, the misrepresented and low-quality extracellular action potentials are difficult to provide accurate and high-content information for drug screening. This study presents the development of a three-dimensional cardiomyocyte-nanobiosensing system that can specifically recognize drug subgroups. The nanopillar-based electrode is manufactured by template synthesis and standard microfabrication technology on a porous polyethylene terephthalate membrane. Based on the cardiomyocyte-nanopillar interface, high-quality intracellular action potentials can be recorded by the minimally invasive electroporation. We validate the performance of a cardiomyocyte-nanopillar-based intracellular electrophysiological biosensing platform by two subclasses of sodium channel blockers, quinidine and lidocaine. The recorded intracellular action potentials accurately reveal the subtle differences between these drugs. Our study indicates that high-content intracellular recordings utilizing nanopillar-based biosensing can provide a promising platform for the electrophysiological and pharmacological investigation of cardiovascular diseases.