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 0.06 mu M to 0.21 mu M (S/N=3) statistically for the electrode diameters from 10 mu m to 90 mu m, 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.