Cellular Impedance Example

When we look at the behaviour of cells in vitro we can learn about their growth patterns. Below is an example looking at how the impedance of a cell layer changes as it grows. Cells were grown in an array from Applied Biophysics that they have specifically designed to allow impedance measurements to be made on cells.

Cells can be grown on the base of the eight wells shown in this picture. There are electrodes in the base of the well (the small discs) that enable us to measure the impedance of the cells. We connect to these electrodes by using the pads on the right hand side.

The impedance of wells that contain cells is considerably different from a well that does not contain cells. As the cells proliferate and there are more and more cells present in the well these differences become larger. Click here to watch a video of such impedance changes over time. In this video, the first column of wells on the left have been left blank so that we have a reference. The next three columns have all been seeded with cells. As these grow, the impedance rises reflected by a change from blue to red.