Applied Biophysics has redesigned its instrumentation to use electrical impedance to monitor cells in culture.
The Electric Cell-Substrate Impedance Sensing (ECIS) model Z provides multiple frequency measurements, broader bandwidth, faster speed, higher sensitivity and data analysis.
In ECIS, cells are cultured upon small gold electrodes, the impedance of which is measured with a weak AC signal.
When cells attach and spread on these electrodes, their insulating membranes constrain the current, forcing it to flow beneath and between the cells.
This results in measurable impedance changes that can be used to quantify cell behaviour.
This quantitative approach gathers real time data on cell behaviour without using fluorescence or radio-labelled materials.
ECIS can reliably measure cell behaviours, including cell attachment and spreading on ECM proteins, cell migration, extravasion of endothelial cell layers, barrier function, signal transduction, cytopathic effects of viral infections, cytotoxicity and cell proliferation.
The ECIS Z system also allows the user to measure complex impedance and report its constituent components of resistance and capacitance over a spectrum of frequencies.
The ECIS Z can interface with 16 and 96 wells stations, saving money when one wishes to either increase throughput for screening research or carry out studies requiring fewer wells.
The ECIS Z system consists of a system controller, 16 and/or 96 well station options,a laptop or desktop computer (PC or Mac) and integrated software based on Matlab and featuring an easy to use graphical interface.
Both systems can be equipped with a flow system for specialised endothelial cell application and the popular elevated field module to carry out automated wound-healing/migration and electroporation experiments.
