Microelectrodes integrated cell-chip for drug effects study

Silicon-based microelectrode chips are useful tools for temporal recording of neurotransmitter releasing from neural cells. Both invasive and non-invasive methods are targeted by different group researchers to perform electrical stimulating on neural cells. A microfabricated microelectrodes integrated biochip will be presented in this paper, which describes the dopaminergic cells growing on the chip directly. The dopamine exocytosis can be detected non-invasively from drug incubated dopaminergic cells growing on the chip. The abovementioned silicon-based electrochemical sensor chip has been designed with an electrode array located on the bottom of reaction chamber and each electrode is individually electrical controlled. MN9D, a mouse mesencephalic dopaminergic cell line, has been grown on the surface of the biochip chamber directly. Dopamine exocytosis from the chip-grown MN9D cells was detected using amperometry technology. The amperometric detection limit of dopamine of the biochip microelectrodes was found from 0.06μM to 0.21μM (S/N=3) statistically for the electrode diameters from 10 μm to 90 μm, the level of dopamine exocytosis from MN9D cells was undetectable whithout drug incubation. In contrast, after MN9D cells were incubated with L-dopa, a dopamine precursor, K+ induced dopamine extocytosis was temporally detected. The microelectrodes integrated biochip provides a non-invasive, temporal detection of dopamine exocytosis from dopaminergic cells, and holds the potential for applications in studying the mechanisms of dopamine exocytosis, and drug screening. It also provides a tool for pharmaceutical research and drug screening on dopaminergic cells, extendably to be used for other cell culture and drug effects study.