Comparison Among Impedance-Based Sensor for Cell Adhesion Monitoring and In Vitro Methods for Detecting Cytotoxicity Induced by Chemicals

The recent European Commission REACH policy (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) outlines a plan for toxicological testing by alternative non animal in vitro methods. In this context, there is the need in developing and standardising high-throughput screening (HTS) for studying the cytotoxicity induced by chemicals. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) can be considered an useful complementary to alternative in vitro testing suitable for studying cell adhesion on the substrate and give real-time and kinetic information. In particular, this work describes the development of a home-made chip based on impedance spectroscopy and its application to study the kinetics of Balb/3T3 cells adhesion and their response to a toxic product as a function of time. Different concentrations of NaAsO2 ranging from 10 up to 1000μM were tested in the system and the results were compared with standard protocols used to study basal cytotoxicity induced by chemicals in Balb/3T3 cell line. The results show a good sensitivity of the developed chip, better than the MTT test together with the advantages of on-line monitoring.JRC.I.4-Nanotechnology and Molecular Imagin