Monitoring Contractile Cardiomyocytes via Impedance Using Multipurpose Thin Film Ruthenium Oxide Electrodes
Esther Tanumihardja,
Douwe S. de Bruijn,
Rolf H. Slaats,
Wouter Olthuis,
Albert van den Berg
Affiliations
Esther Tanumihardja
BIOS Lab on a Chip Group, Max Planck Centre for Complex Fluid Dynamics and Technical Medical Centre, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
Douwe S. de Bruijn
BIOS Lab on a Chip Group, Max Planck Centre for Complex Fluid Dynamics and Technical Medical Centre, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
Rolf H. Slaats
Applied Stem Cell Technologies Group, Technical Medical Centre, University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
Wouter Olthuis
BIOS Lab on a Chip Group, Max Planck Centre for Complex Fluid Dynamics and Technical Medical Centre, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
Albert van den Berg
BIOS Lab on a Chip Group, Max Planck Centre for Complex Fluid Dynamics and Technical Medical Centre, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
A ruthenium oxide (RuOx) electrode was used to monitor contractile events of human pluripotent stem cells-derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CMs) through electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Using RuOx electrodes presents an advantage over standard thin film Pt electrodes because the RuOx electrodes can also be used as electrochemical sensor for pH, O2, and nitric oxide, providing multisensory functionality with the same electrode. First, the EIS signal was validated in an optically transparent well-plate setup using Pt wire electrodes. This way, visual data could be recorded simultaneously. Frequency analyses of both EIS and the visual data revealed almost identical frequency components. This suggests both the EIS and visual data captured the similar events of the beating of (an area of) hPSC-CMs. Similar EIS measurement was then performed using the RuOx electrode, which yielded comparable signal and periodicity. This mode of operation adds to the versatility of the RuOx electrode’s use in in vitro studies.
