Electric Cell-Substrate Impedance Sensing (ECIS), xCELLigence and cellZscope are commercially available instruments that measure the impedance of cellular monolayers. Despite widespread use of these systems individually, direct comparisons between these platforms have not been published. To compare these instruments, the responses of human brain endothelial monolayers to TNFα and IL1β were measured on all three platforms simultaneously. All instruments detected transient changes in impedance in response to the cytokines, although the response magnitude varied, with ECIS being the most sensitive. ECIS and cellZscope were also able to attribute responses to particular endothelial barrier components by modelling the multifrequency impedance data acquired by these instruments; in contrast the limited frequency xCELLigence data cannot be modelled. Consistent with its superior impedance sensing, ECIS exhibited a greater capacity than cellZscope to distinguish between subtle changes in modelled endothelial monolayer properties. The reduced resolving ability of the cellZscope platform may be due to its electrode configuration, which is necessary to allow access to the basolateral compartment, an important advantage of this instrument. Collectively, this work demonstrates that instruments must be carefully selected to ensure they are appropriate for the experimental questions being asked when assessing endothelial barrier properties.
Keywords: ECIS; cellZscope; endothelial cell; hCMVEC; impedance sensing; xCELLigence.