Monitoring cellular activities of cancer cells using impedance sensing devices

The present work reports the impedimetric characterization of cellular activities of T47D cells treated with anticancer drug ZD6474 using impedance sensing devices. Four types of devices with different dimensions are fabricated by micromachining technology. Real time impedance monitoring data reveals spreading stage completes within 5 h. The frequency response characteristics of drug treated cells are studied to evaluate cytotoxic effect of ZD6474 along with the sensitivity variation for different designs. Compared to control data, a significant decrease in impedance data is observed for drug treated samples above 10 μM dose due to predominant cell death and detachment from the electrode surfaces. The quantitative relation developed between cell impedance and drug dose indicates that the magnitude of cell impedance varies inversely with the drug dose.