Micromotion of Mammalian Cells Measured Electrically

Motility is a fundamental property of mammalian cells that normally is observed in tissue culture by time lapse microscopy where resolution is limited by the wavelength of light. This paper examines a powerful electrical technique by which cell motion is quantitatively measured at the nanometer leve...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 1991-09, Vol.88 (17), p.7896-7900
Main Authors: GIAEVER, I, KEESE, C. R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amplifiers
Biological and medical sciences
Capacitance
Cell Line
Cell membranes
Cell motility
Cell Movement
Cell physiology
Cells
Culture Techniques - instrumentation
Culture Techniques - methods
Cultured cells
Electric current
electric currents
Electrodes
Electrophysiology - instrumentation
Electrophysiology - methods
Epithelial cells
Fibroblasts - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Mathematics
Models, Theoretical
Molecular and cellular biology
Motility and taxis
Tissue culture techniques
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Summary:Motility is a fundamental property of mammalian cells that normally is observed in tissue culture by time lapse microscopy where resolution is limited by the wavelength of light. This paper examines a powerful electrical technique by which cell motion is quantitatively measured at the nanometer level. In this method, the cells are cultured on small evaporated gold electrodes carrying weak ac currents. A large change in the measured electrical impedance of the electrodes is observed when cells attach and spread on these electrodes. When the impedance is tracked as a function of time, fluctuations are observed that are a direct measure of cell motion. Surprisingly, these fluctuations continue even when the cell layer becomes confluent. By comparing the measured impedance with a theoretical model, it is clear that under these circumstances the average motions of the cell layer of 1 nm can be inferred from the measurements. We refer to this aspect of cell motility as micromotion.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.88.17.7896