Non‐invasive long‐term and real‐time analysis of endocrine cells on micro‐electrode arrays

•  Pancreatic islet cells are required for glucose homeostasis and their dysfunction leads to diabetes mellitus. •  The electrical activity of these cells is regulated by nutrients as well as hormones and this provides the first integrative read‐out reflecting their function. •  Non‐invasive recording of their electrical activity and its analysis in real time would provide the possibility of long‐term and repetitive investigations or testing of multiple drugs. •  Combining electrophysiology and microelectronics, we now demonstrate such an approach with multiple (up to 60) electrodes and including on‐line signal analysis on the two major cell types present in islets, α‐ and β‐cells. •  This method should be applicable to other endocrine cells and may serve in the long‐run as the basis for a novel biosensor.