Local Electroporation of Single Adherent Cells by Micro-Structured Needle Electrodes

K. K. Sriperumbudur[1], P. J. Koester[1], M. Stubbe[1], C. Tautorat[1], J. Held[2], W. Baumann[1], and J. Gimsa[1]
[1] University of Rostock, Chair of Biophysics, Gertrudenstr. 11a, 18057 Rostock, Germany
[2] Microsystem Material Laboratory, Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK), University of Freiburg, Germany
Published in 2009

In spite of its low throughput, Patch-Clamp is the established method for intracellular measurements of the transmembrane potential. To address this problem, we have developed new biosensor-chips with micro-structured needle electrodes (MNEs). MNE-penetration of single cells growing on the MNE-tips leads to a situation comparable to the whole-cell mode in classical Patch Clamp. MNE-penetration was accomplished by local micro-invasive needle electroporation (LOMINE; Koester et al., 2008; Baumann et al., 1998a and b). In this paper, we simulate the field and potential distributions around the MNE before LOMINE assuming reasonable cell and medium parameters for a cell being in contact with the needle via focal adhesion points.

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