Real-time monitoring of cell death by surface infrared spectroscopy

We have developed a method for real-time monitoring of the cell responses to cytotoxicants using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with the multiple internal reflection (MIR-FTIR) geometry. To prevent cell damages induced by measurement environments, we have constructed specialized chambers, in which temperature was maintained at (37±0.5) °C and humidified air containing 5% CO2 was supplied. We monitored cell death induced by cytotoxic surfactant Tween20 using MIR-FTIR spectroscopy. It was found that cell death can be monitored by the absorption intensity of amide II band. This result suggests that our method has a potential to be applied for real-time cytotoxicity assay