Electrical Wound-Healing Assay for Cells in vitro

Confluent cell monolayers in tissue culture are fragile and can easily be mechanically disrupted, often leaving an area devoid of cells. This opening in the cell sheet is then repopulated, because the cells on the fringe of the damage, which are no longer contact-inhibited, move into the available s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2004-02, Vol.101 (6), p.1554-1559
Main Authors: Keese, Charles R., Wegener, Joachim, Walker, Sarah R., Giaever, Ivar
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alternating current
Animals
Biological Sciences
Capacitance
Cell Line
Cell lines
Cellular biology
Cercopithecus aethiops
Cultured cells
Dogs
Electric current
Electric fields
Electric potential
Electricity
Electrochemical cells
Electrodes
Electroporation
Healing
In Vitro Techniques
Rats
Tissues
Wound Healing
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Summary:Confluent cell monolayers in tissue culture are fragile and can easily be mechanically disrupted, often leaving an area devoid of cells. This opening in the cell sheet is then repopulated, because the cells on the fringe of the damage, which are no longer contact-inhibited, move into the available space. This mechanical disruption is often done deliberately in a "wound-healing" assay as a means to assess the migration of the cells. In such assays, a scrape is made in the cell layer followed by microscopy to monitor the advance of the cells into the wound. We have found that these types of assays can also be accomplished electrically. In this approach, cells growing on small electrodes and monitored by using electric cell-substrate impedance sensing are subjected to currents, resulting in severe electroporation and subsequent cell death. After this invasive treatment, the electrode's impedance is again monitored to chart the migration and ultimate healing of the wound. We report here that this procedure to study cell behavior is both highly reproducible, quantitative, and provides data similar to that acquired with traditional measurements.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.0307588100