Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy as a Tool for Monitoring Cell Differentiation from Floor Plate Progenitors to Midbrain Neurons in Real Time

Abstract

Here shows that electrical impedance spectroscopy can be used as a non-invasive and real time tool to probe cell adhesion and differentiation from midbrain floor plate progenitors into midbrain neurons on Au electrodes coated with human laminin. The electrical data and equivalent circuit modeling are consistent with standard microscopy analysis and reveal that within the first 6 hours progenitor cells sediment and attach to the electrode within 40 hours. Between 40 and 120 hours, midbrain progenitor cells differentiate into midbrain neurons, followed by an electrochemically stable maturation phase. The ability to sense and characterize non-invasively and in real time cell differentiation opens up unprecedented avenues for implantable therapies and differentiation strategies.

Keywords: bioelectronics; biophysics; cell differentiation; electrochemical impedance spectroscopy; spinal cord injuries.