Monitoring of peri-cellular oxygen levels in tumor cell cultures by amperometric oxygen sensor array

A cell culture monitoring platform, called Sensing Cell Culture Flask (SCCF), together with results from measurements in tumor cell cultures is presented. The SCCF can be equipped with oxygen, NO, pH and temperature sensors. In this work measurements from an amperometric oxygen sensor array are shown. Two different cell lines from breast cancer and a brain tumor were tested. Incubation was done under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. The results demonstrate the necessity of peri-cellular oxygen monitoring. Depending on cell density and metabolism, cells cultured under normoxic incubation conditions can experience oxygen tension, as one would expect in hypoxic situations only.