Development of Microdevices for Physioelectrical Measurement of Biological Cells
In recent research and development in the field of biotechnology, intense focus has been seen in cell level analysis or control technology. Especially, in cell therapy and tissue engineering, function analysis and control of an individual cell is assumed to be essential for achieving full therapeutic effect. However, conventional tools for analyzing cullular function often suffer from chemical invasion and destroy of cell membrane, and hence they do not allow the practical use of measured cells in clinical applications. In this paper, we report the development of microdevices for physioelectirical measurement of cells by applying nano/microfabrication technologies. These devices enable the highly precise measurement of cell membrane potential and zeta potential of individual cells in a minimally invasive manner.