Impedance monitoring of cell adhesion and growth on mesoporous membrane

We present a microdevice configuration for impedance monitoring of adherent cells cultured on the surface of mesoporous membranes. The device fabrication was based on a 3 layer PDMS process which allows easy integration of microelectrodes in close proximity to cultured cells. The measurements were performed with HeLa cells on 30 nm diameter membranes of polycarbonate and embedded Pt and Ag/AgCl electrodes. As expected, the impedance of the cell-membrane assembly changes rapidly during the first 30 min due to cell adhesion and it continuously increases until cell confluence at day 5. This membrane based device configuration should be useful for accurate and real-time monitoring in cell adhesion, growth and migration studies.