Electrochemical Impedance Simulation for Single Cell Analysis using a Microelectrode

Abstract

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is one of the ways to monitor living cells in terms of morphology and cell-substrate adhesion. In conventional cell analysis, averaged values from many cells on a large area electrode are acquired. Meanwhile, single cell characteristics are obtained by using a microelectrode which is smaller than single cell size. In this study, we investigated the impact of electrode size on single cell EIS analysis by using a computer simulation. The electrode smaller than the cell size would enable independent measurement of the cytoplasm electrical conductivity and the cell-substrate gap resistance. In addition, changes in morphology such as cell height and radius should be monitored at the same time in different frequency range. Thus, our simulation indicates that EIS measurement with microscale electrode may be used in monitoring various physiological changes in cells such as immune response.