Intracellular Microelectrode by Photochemical Cell Membrane Perforation

抄録

The application of intracellular electrode has been limited for basic researches, because the electrode insertion causes cell death to the target. We found a unique cell membrane penetration technique by local photo-oxidative reaction with photosensitizer, and the survival ratio of the processed cell is more than 80%. In this study, we extended the research to electrophysiology, with the capillary coated with photosensitizer hematoporphyrin. We evaluated the perforation function by microinjection, and the success rate of membrane impermeable fluorescence dye Lucifer Yellow CH into rat PC12 cells was 70%. With this evidence, we applied the capillary as the glass microelectrode. When the electrode touched cell membrane under the irradiation, the recorded potential by the electrode dropped gradually, and we could measure the resting potential under the dark condition without causing cell death at least a several minutes. We will develop this method to establish novel intracellular electrode array for neural interfaces.