Cell-based sensor system using L6 cells for broad band continuous pollutant monitoring in aquatic environments

A549 Cell-Covered Electrodes as a Sensing Element for Detection of Effects of Zn2+ Ions in a Solution

Electrochemical-based biosensors have the potential to be a fast, label-free, simple approach to detecting the effects of cytotoxic substances in liquid media. In the work presented here, a cell-based electrochemical biosensor was developed and evaluated to detect the cytotoxic effects of Zn²⁺ ions in a solution as a reference test chemical. A549 cells were attached to the surface of stainless-steel electrodes. After treatment with ZnCl₂, the morphological changes of the cells and, ultimately, their death and detachment from the electrode surface as cytotoxic effects were detected through changes in the electrical signal. Electrochemical cell-based impedance spectroscopy (ECIS) measurements were conducted with cytotoxicity tests and microscopic observation to investigate the behavior of the A549 cells. As expected, the Zn²⁺ ions caused changes in cell confluency and spreading, which were checked by light microscopy, while the cell morphology and attachment pattern were explored by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The ECIS measurements confirmed the ability of the biosensor to detect the effects of Zn²⁺ ions on A549 cells attached to the low-cost stainless-steel surfaces and its potential for use as an inexpensive detector for a broad range of chemicals and nanomaterials in their cytotoxic concentrations.

Live-Cell Systems in Real-Time Biomonitoring of Water Pollution: Practical Considerations and Future Perspectives

Continuous monitoring and early warning of potential water contamination with toxic chemicals is of paramount importance for human health and sustainable food production. During the last few decades there have been noteworthy advances in technologies for the automated sensing of physicochemical parameters of water. These do not translate well into online monitoring of chemical pollutants since most of them are either incapable of real-time detection or unable to detect impacts on biological organisms. As a result, biological early warning systems have been proposed to supplement conventional water quality test strategies. Such systems can continuously evaluate physiological parameters of suitable aquatic species and alert the user to the presence of toxicants. In this regard, single cellular organisms, such as bacteria, cyanobacteria, micro-algae and vertebrate cell lines, offer promising avenues for development of water biosensors. Historically, only a handful of systems utilising single-cell organisms have been deployed as established online water biomonitoring tools. Recent advances in recombinant microorganisms, cell immobilisation techniques, live-cell microarrays and microfluidic Lab-on-a-Chip technologies open new avenues to develop miniaturised systems capable of detecting a broad range of water contaminants. In experimental settings, they have been shown as sensitive and rapid biosensors with capabilities to detect traces of contaminants. In this work, we critically review the recent advances and practical prospects of biological early warning systems based on live-cell biosensors. We demonstrate historical deployment successes, technological innovations, as well as current challenges for the broader deployment of live-cell biosensors in the monitoring of water quality.

A Combined pH-Impedance System Suitable for Portable Continuous Sensing

In this paper, a combined pH and impedance sensing system suitable for portable measurements is presented. The sensor outputs are converted directly to frequency or pulse width. The pH sensor is based on a voltage clamp topology that uses charging and discharging capacitors, voltage window comparators, and an SR-Latch to convert the output to frequency. The impedance to frequency sensor is based on current and voltage comparators and an SR-Latch. The pH system based on ISFET transistors is experimentally verified with on chip electrodes while the impedance sensor is characterized with discrete electronic components. The portable system is implemented with two chips and an external multi-electrode array into a portable system. Resistance, capacitance, and pH are experimentally measured using buffer solutions to simulate a water quality monitoring application. The system is implemented in a portable format and all modules, excluding the commercial microprocessor, consume an average power of 56 μW with an area of 0.006 mm ² using a 180 nm technology.

Real-Time Water Quality Monitoring with Chemical Sensors

Water quality is one of the most critical indicators of environmental pollution and it affects all of us. Water contamination can be accidental or intentional and the consequences are drastic unless the appropriate measures are adopted on the spot. This review provides a critical assessment of the applicability of various technologies for real-time water quality monitoring, focusing on those that have been reportedly tested in real-life scenarios. Specifically, the performance of sensors based on molecularly imprinted polymers is evaluated in detail, also giving insights into their principle of operation, stability in real on-site applications and mass production options. Such characteristics as sensing range and limit of detection are given for the most promising systems, that were verified outside of laboratory conditions. Then, novel trends of using microwave spectroscopy and chemical materials integration for achieving a higher sensitivity to and selectivity of pollutants in water are described.

Current status of water environment and their microbial biosensor techniques - Part II: Recent trends in microbial biosensor development

In Part I of the present review series, I presented the current state of the water environment by focusing on Japanese cases and discussed the need to further develop microbial biosensor technologies for the actual water environment. I comprehensively present trends after approximately 2010 in microbial biosensor development for the water environment. In the first section, after briefly summarizing historical studies, recent studies on microbial biosensor principles are introduced. In the second section, recent application studies for the water environment are also introduced. Finally, I conclude the present review series by describing the need to further develop microbial biosensor technologies. Graphical abstract Current water pollution indirectly occurs by anthropogenic eutrophication (Part I). Recent trends in microbial biosensor development for water environment are described in part II of the present review series.

Detection of contaminants in water supply: A review on state-of-the-art monitoring technologies and their applications

Water monitoring technologies are widely used for contaminants detection in wide variety of water ecology applications such as water treatment plant and water distribution system. A tremendous amount of research has been conducted over the past decades to develop robust and efficient techniques of contaminants detection with minimum operating cost and energy. Recent developments in spectroscopic techniques and biosensor approach have improved the detection sensitivities, quantitatively and qualitatively. The availability of in-situ measurements and multiple detection analyses has expanded the water monitoring applications in various advanced techniques including successful establishment in hand-held sensing devices which improves portability in real-time basis for the detection of contaminant, such as microorganisms, pesticides, heavy metal ions, inorganic and organic components. This paper intends to review the developments in water quality monitoring technologies for the detection of biological and chemical contaminants in accordance with instrumental limitations. Particularly, this review focuses on the most recently developed techniques for water contaminant detection applications. Several recommendations and prospective views on the developments in water quality assessments will also be included.

1024-Pixel CMOS Multimodality Joint Cellular Sensor/Stimulator Array for Real-Time Holistic Cellular Characterization and Cell-Based Drug Screening

This paper presents a fully integrated CMOS multimodality joint sensor/stimulator array with 1024 pixels for real-time holistic cellular characterization and drug screening. The proposed system consists of four pixel groups and four parallel signal-conditioning blocks. Every pixel group contains 16 × 16 pixels, and each pixel includes one gold-plated electrode, four photodiodes, and in-pixel circuits, within a pixel footprint. Each pixel supports real-time extracellular potential recording, optical detection, charge-balanced biphasic current stimulation, and cellular impedance measurement for the same cellular sample. The proposed system is fabricated in a standard 130-nm CMOS process. Rat cardiomyocytes are successfully cultured on-chip. Measured high-resolution optical opacity images, extracellular potential recordings, biphasic current stimulations, and cellular impedance images demonstrate the unique advantages of the system for holistic cell characterization and drug screening. Furthermore, this paper demonstrates the use of optical detection on the on-chip cultured cardiomyocytes to real-time track their cyclic beating pattern and beating rate.

A UAV-Mounted Whole Cell Biosensor System for Environmental Monitoring Applications

This study reports the development of a portable whole cell biosensor system for environmental monitoring applications, such as air quality control, water pollution monitoring, and radiation leakage detection. The system consists of a lightweight mechanical housing, a temperature regulating system, and a microfluidic bacterial inoculation channel. The overall system, which is less than 200 g, serves as a portable incubator for cell inoculation and can be mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle for monitoring remote and unreachable locations. The feedback control system maintains the inoculation temperature within 0.05 °C. The large surface-to-volume ratio of the polydimethylsiloxane microchannel facilitates effective gas exchange for rapid bacterial growth. Molecular dynamic simulation shows effective diffusion of major gas pollutants in PDMS toward gas sensing applications. By optimizing the design, we demonstrate the operation of the system in ambient temperatures from 5 °C to 32 °C and rapid bacterial growth in microchannels compared to standard bacterial culture techniques.

Simultaneous detection of multiple bioactive pollutants using a multiparametric biochip for water quality monitoring

Water is a renewable resource but yet finite. Its sustainable usage and the maintenance of a good quality are essential for an intact environment, human life and a stable economy. Emerging technologies aim for a continuous monitoring of water quality, overcoming periodic analytical sampling, and providing information on the current state of inshore waters in real time. So does the here presented cell-based sensor system which uses RLC-18 cells (rat liver cells) as the detection layer for the detection of water pollutants. The electrical read-out of the system, cellular metabolism, oxygen consumption and morphological integrity detects small changes in the water quality and indicates a possible physiological damage caused. A generalized functional linear model was implemented in order to regress the chemicals present in the sample on the electrical read-out. The chosen environmental pollutants to test the system were chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate pesticide, and tetrabromobisphenol A, a flame retardant. Each chemical gives a very characteristic response, but the toxicity is mitigated if both chemicals are present at once. This will focus our attention on the statistical approach which is able to discriminate between these pollutants.

Micropatterning of 3D Microenvironments for Living Biosensor Applications

Micro-scale printing and patterning of living cells has multiple applications including tissue engineering, cell signaling assays, and the fabrication of cell-based biosensors. In this work, a molecular printing instrument, the Bioforce Nano eNabler, was modified to enable micron-scale -quill-pen based printing of mammalian cells in a 3D hyaluronan/gelatin based hydrogel. Specifically, photo-initiated -thiol-ene click chemistry was used to couple the thiol groups of thiolated hyaluronan/thiolated gelatin to the alkene groups of 4-arm polyethylene glycol (PEG)-norbornene molecules. Rapid photopolymerization enabled direct printing and controlled curing of living cells within the hydrogel matrix. The resulting hydrogels were biocompatible with human adipose-derived stem cells, NIH-3T3 cells, and mouse embryonic stem cells. The utility of this printing approach was also explored for cell-based biosensors. Micro-printed cells expressing a redox sensitive variant of the green fluorescent protein (roGFP-R12) showed a measurable fluorescent response to addition of oxidizing and then reducing agents. This work represents a novel approach to micron-scale cell patterning, and its potential for living, cell-based biosensors.

Real-time cell analysis: sensitivity of different vertebrate cell cultures to copper sulfate measured by xCELLigence(®)

In this study, we report the use of a real-time cell analysis (RTCA) test system, the xCELLigence(®) RTCA, as efficient tool for a fast cytotoxicity analysis and comparison of four different vertebrate cell cultures. This new dynamic real-time monitoring and impedance-based assay allows for a combined measurement of cell adhesion, spreading and proliferation. Cell cultures were obtained from mouse, rat, human and fish, all displaying a fibroblast-like phenotype. The measured impedance values could be correlated to characteristic cell culture behaviours. In parallel, relative cytotoxicity of a commonly used but due to its very good water solubility highly hazardous pesticide, copper sulfate, was evaluated under in vitro conditions through measurements of cell viability by classical end-point based assays MTT and PrestoBlue(®). Cell line responses in terms of viability as measured by these three methods were variable between the fish skin cells and cells from higher vertebrates and also between the three methods. The advantage of impedance-based measurements is mainly based on the continuous monitoring of cell responses for a broad range of different cells, including fish cells.