Nanoscale, Voltage-Driven Application of Bioactive Substances onto Cells with Organized Topography

Sophie Schobesberger, Peter Jönsson, Andrey Buzuk, Yuri Korchev, Jennifer Siggers, Julia Gorelik

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

With scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM), a noncontact scanning probe technique, it is possible both to obtain information about the surface topography of live cells and to apply molecules onto specific nanoscale structures. The technique is therefore widely used to apply chemical compounds and to study the properties of molecules on the surfaces of various cell types. The heart muscle cells, i.e., the cardiomyocytes, possess a highly elaborate, unique surface topography including transverse-tubule (T-tubule) openings leading into a cell internal system that exclusively harbors many proteins necessary for the cell's physiological function. Here, we applied isoproterenol into these surface openings by changing the applied voltage over the SICM nanopipette. To determine the grade of precision of our application we used finite-element simulations to investigate how the concentration profile varies over the cell surface. We first obtained topography scans of the cardiomyocytes using SICM and then determined the electrophoretic mobility of isoproterenol in a high ion solution to be -7 × 10-9 m2/V s. The simulations showed that the delivery to the T-tubule opening is highly confined to the underlying Z-groove, and especially to the first T-tubule opening, where the concentration is ∼6.5 times higher compared to on a flat surface under the same delivery settings. Delivery to the crest, instead of the T-tubule opening, resulted in a much lower concentration, emphasizing the importance of topography in agonist delivery. In conclusion, SICM, unlike other techniques, can reliably deliver precise quantities of compounds to the T-tubules of cardiomyocytes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)141-146
Number of pages6
JournalBiophysical Journal
Volume110
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Jan 2016

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The Authors.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biophysics

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