Regeneration of Arrayed Gold Microelectrodes Equipped for a Real-Time Cell Analyzer

Summary

This protocol describes a general strategy to regenerate commercial arrayed gold microelectrodes equipped for a label-free cell analyzer aimed at saving on the high running costs ofmicrochip-based assays. The regeneration process includes trypsin digestion, rinsing with ethanol and water, and a spinning step, which enables repeated usage of microchips.

Abstract

The label-free cell-based assay is advantageous for biochemical study because of it does not require the use of experimental animals. Due to its ability to provide more dynamic information about cells under physiological conditions than classical biochemical assays, this label-free real-time cell assay based on the electric impedance principle is attracting more attention during the past decade. However, its practical utilization may be limited due to the relatively expensive cost of measurement, in which costly consumable disposable gold microchips are used for the cell analyzer. In this protocol, we have developed a general strategy to regenerate arrayed gold microelectrodes equipped for a commercial label-free cell analyzer. The regeneration process includes trypsin digestion, rinsing with ethanol and water, and a spinning step. The proposed method has been tested and shown to be effective for the regeneration and repeated usage of commercial electronic plates at least three times, which will help researchers save on the high running cost of real-time cell assays.

Introduction

Owing to its efficient and less labor-intensive experimental process, label-free cell-based technology has witnessed rapid growth over the past decade for analytical as well as screening purposes such as in the aspect of proteomics^1,2, drug delivery³, etc.^4,5 Compared with traditional biochemical methods aimed at cell analysis, label-free real-time cell assay with the prototype developed by Giaever and coworkers previously⁶ is based on the principle of recording electric signal changes on the sur....

Protocol

NOTE: In general, the regeneration process includes trypsin digestion and rinsing step with ethanol and water. The digestion time changes according to the number of cells used, and the type and number of cells used may differ depending on the experimental purposes. It is advised to check the regenerated microchips using optical and electrochemical methods to optimize the regeneration conditions. During the experiment, soluble and insoluble chemicals may be involved, and here these two typical cases of the regeneration procedures are detailed.

1. Preparation of Regeneration Solutions

NOTE: Prepare and handle all the....

Results

Surface properties of gold microchips: The regeneration procedures used in this protocol were outlined in Figure 1. Figure 2 shows the microscopic surface pictures of fresh and regenerated electronic plates by the optical microscope. As shown in Figure 2A and Figure 2C, microscopic observations indicated that there was virtually no diffe.......

Discussion

We summarized several available methods^{17,23,24,25,26} for regenerating microchips in Table 1. Basically, these methods involved relatively harsh experimental conditions to achieve the complete regeneration of chips because of the presence of strong molecule-molecule interactions such as that of the immune complex used for SPR chips. However, t.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Rat: Sprague-Dawley	Charles River	Cat# 400
mouse anti-rat CD11b monoclonal (clone OX42)	Bio-Rad	Cat# MCA275R	Panning: 1:1,000; Staining: 1:500
Goat polycolonal anti-Iba1	Abcam	Cat# AB5076	Staining: 1:500
Rabbit polyclonal anti-Ki67	Abcam	Cat# AB15580	Staining: 1:500
Alexa Fluor Donkey anti-mouse 594	Invitrogen	Cat# 11055	Staining: 1:500
Alexa Fluor Donkey anti-goat 488	Invitrogen	Cat# A-21203	Staining: 1:500
Alexa Fluor Donkey anti-Rabbit 647	Invitrogen	Cat# A-31573	Staining: 1:500
Triton-X (detergent in ICC staining)	Thermo Fisher	Cat# 28313
Heparan sulfate	Galen Laboratory Supplies	Cat# GAG-HS01
Heparin	Sigma	Cat# M3149
Peptone from milk solids	Sigma	Cat# P6838
TGF-β2	Peprotech	Cat# 100-35B
Murine IL-34	R&D Systems	Cat# 5195-ML/CF
Ovine wool cholesterol	Avanti Polar Lipids	Cat# 700000P
Collagen IV	Corning	Cat# 354233
Oleic acid	Cayman Chemicals	Cat# 90260
11(Z)Eicosadienoic (Gondoic) Acid	Cayman Chemicals	Cat# 20606
Calcein AM dye	Invitrogen	Cat# C3100MP
Ethidium homodimer-1	Invitrogen	Cat# E1169
DNaseI	Worthington	Cat# DPRFS
Percoll PLUS	GE Healthcare	Cat# 17-5445-02
Trypsin	Sigma	Cat# T9935
DMEM/F12	Gibco	Cat# 21041-02
Penicillin/ Streptomycin	Gibco	Cat# 15140-122
Glutamine	Gibco	Cat# 25030-081
N-acetyl cysteine	Sigma	Cat# A9165
Insulin	Sigma	Cat# 16634
Apo-transferrin	Sigma	Cat# T1147
Sodium selenite	Sigma	Cat# S-5261
DMEM (high glucose)	Gibco	Cat# 11960-044
Dapi Fluoromount-G	Southern Biotech	Cat# 0100-20
Poly-D-Lysine	Sigma	Cat# A-003-E
Primaria Plates	VWR	Cat# 62406-456
Stock reagents	reconstitution	Concentration used	Storage
Apo-transferrin	10 mg/mL in PBS	1:100	-20°C
N-acetyl cysteine	5 mg/mL in H2O	1:1,000	-20°C
Sodium selenite	2.5 mg/mL in H2O	1:25,000	-20°C
Collagen IV	200 μg/mL in PBS	1:100	-80°C
TGF-b2	20 μg/mL in PBS	1:10,000	-20°C
IL-34	100 μg/mL in PBS	1:1,000	-80°C
Ovine wool cholesterol	1.5 mg/mL in 100% ethanol	1:1,000	-20°C
Heparan sulfate	1 mg/mL in H2O	1:1,000	-20°C
Oleic acid/Gondoic acid	Gondoic: 0.001 mg/mL; Oleic: 0.1 mg/mL in 100% ethanol	1:1,000	-20°C
Heparin	50 mg/mL in PBS	1:100	-20°C
Solutions	Recipe		Comments
Perfusion Buffer	50 μg/mL heparin in DPBS++ (PBS with Ca++ and Mg+ +)		Use when ice-cold
Douncing Buffer	200 μL of 0.4% DNaseI in 50 mL of DPBS++		Use when ice-cold
Panning Buffer	2 mg/mL of peptone from milk solids in DPBS++
Microglia Growth Medium (MGM)	DMEM/F12 containing 100 units/mL penicillin, 100 μg/mL streptomycin, 2 mM glutamine, 5 μg/mL N-acetyl cysteine, 5 μg/mL insulin, 100 μg/mL apo-transferrin, and 100 ng/mL sodium selenite		Use ice-cold MGM to pan microglia off of immnopanning dish.
Collagen IV Coating	MGM containing 2 μg/mL collagen IV
Myelin Seperation Buffer	9 mL Percoll PLUS, 1 mL 10x PBS without Ca++ and Mg++, 9 μL 1 M CaCl2, 5 μL 1 M MgCl2		Mix well after the addition of  CaCl2 and MgCl2
TGF-b2/IL-34/Cholesterol containing growth media (TIC)	MGM containing human 2 ng/mL TGF-b2, 100 ng/mL murine IL-34, 1.5 μg/mL ovine wool cholesterol, 10 μg/mL heparan sulfate, 0.1 μg/ml oleic acid, and 0.001 μg/ml gondoic acid		Make sure to add cholesterol to media warmed to 37 °C and do not add more than 1.5 μg/mL or it will precipitate out. Do not filter cholesterol-containing media. Equilibrate TIC media with 10% CO2 for 30 min- 1 hr before adding to cells to insure optimal pH.