Journal Name

RSCPublishing

Communication

Cite this: DOI:

10.1039/x0xx00000x

Received 00th January 2012,

Accepted 00th January 2012

Future of Biotechnology:
Electrophysiology within Cells and
Tissues
Pengxiang Zuo 11070161 University of Limerick

DOI: 10.1039/x0xx00000x

ABSTRACT

Nanotechnol
ogy to the

Electrophysiology monitor the electrical activity within a cell or a tissue. By gathering these data,
researchers could treat and diagnose patients with risks and plans being evaluated accordingly.
Nanotechnology overcome several shortcomings of conventional detection methods and provide a
more stable and sensitive measurement by minimising the size of the device as well as constructing
3-D structure on flexible substrate. This paper covers recent developments in electrophysiological
nano-based devices.

Introduction
Nanotech
is
becoming
increasingly
important
to
electrophysiology, which is the study of electrical properties of
biological cells and tissues. It measures voltage change and
electrical currents particularly within a cell, especially those in
the brain and the heart. Scientists take special interests in the
electrical activity of neurons and cardiac cells because they
believe it could help evaluate the effects of brain disease on
neuronal functioning and evaluate electrocardiograms, assess
risk of developing arrhythmias in the future [1]. This is important
to diagnosing and treating the patient with relevant disease.
Conventional electrophysiology methods mainly place various
electrodes such as single or arrays of needles that are used as
conductors into biological tissue. With the electrode being small
enough, it is possible to insert them into a single cell to monitor
or observe its electrical activity, typically membrane potential.
A typical intracellular recording method is current clamp,
which generally inject a current into a cell via the electrodes
then measure the membrane potential. In this method, the cells
reactivity to electrical stimulation could be studied thus
enabling
scientist
to
understand
cells
especially
neurotransmitters mechanism which involves the closing and
opening of ionic channels that are embedded in the cell
membrane[2]. However, such intracellular methods are generally
invasive and are known to cause penetration to the membrane
and leakage to the substance. Moreover, it is hard to record for
long duration because the contacts between the electrode and
the cells are hard to maintain. Other methods such as patch
clamp pipettes also has problems in mechanical instability and
low instability[3].

This journal is The Royal Society of Chemistry 2013

Hence, as scientist expected, the theme of making things small

in Nanotechnology coincides with the need of modern

electrophysiology. This makes nanomaterial a very strong and

suitable companion for electrophysiology. Nanomaterial such as
nanotubes, nanowires and two dimensional nanosheets have
become an increasingly hot candidate to manufacture the
recording devices that are meant to be small. Whats more, the
nanostructure nowadays could be specifically designed and
prepared with great precision and complexity. Therefore,
scientist have made unprecedented breakthrough in joining
these two discipline for in the fields of biology and medicine.
In this paper, the developments of the nano-based device or
technique in electrophysiology will be reviewed.

Nanomaterial Field-Effect Transistor Devices

In a field-effect transistor (FET), the shape and the conductance
of a channel where a specific type of carrier flow through can
be manipulated by applying an electric filed onto it. In a
standard FET, current flows into the semiconductor path that is
known as the channel via a source electrode and got collected at
the drain electrode that locates at the other end of the
semiconductor. A gate electrode is used to modulate the
effective electrical diameter of the channel which in turns
change the conductance of the semiconductor. A small change
in gate voltage can cause a large variation in the current from

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the source to the drain. By applying a positive or negative gate

voltage, it will deplete or accumulate carriers and thus reduce
or increase the conductance. [4]
Nanomaterial such as semiconductor nanowire (NW) and
carbon nanotube is known to be a suitable material for FET
device .In a nanobased FET device, the nanomaterial is placed
on an insulating substrate surface while making source and
drain contacts to the NW or NT ends. [5]Because of nature of
the hollow cylinder nanotube, the current that flows in the
channel is in direct contact with the cell environment. In terms
of NW device, compared with a traditional FET device,

In a study that is published in 2007, electrical recordings from

whole embryonic chicken hearts were recorded using planar
NWFET device. The results shows a close temporal
correlation between peaks, with 100 ms consistent time
difference between pipette and NW peaks due to the fact that
the pipette was inserted into a spatially remote region with
respect to the NWFET devices [7]. The chip that is used in this
study exhibit strong endurance and can be reused for multiple
times. With the NWFET device being able to wrap closely
around the organ, this increase the contact area and hence and
hence the sensitivity[6].

substance that binds

to the

surface would cause a great change to the conductance

because it would influence the entire cross section of the

channel instead of a small region at the surface. In other
words, the above properties along with the extremely high
surface-to-volume ratios of these devices make them
extremely sensitive to species absorbed on the surfaces, thus
making them perfect candidates for monitoring electrical
activity within a cell[6].

Nanomaterial Electrical Device Monitor Tissue

Nanowire-FET device can also be utilised to record the
activity of a whole organ. Compared with conventional
methods, such as macroscale metallic electrodes, microscopy,
dyed tissue[6], nanowire and nanotube device arrays can be
fabricated into 3-D shapes that conform to the curved surface
of the organ. That is to say, the disadvantages of conventional
method such as low resolution due to its planar structure can
be avoided.
This journal is The Royal Society of Chemistry 2012

Carbon Nanopipettes
Scientist also used carbon nanopipettes (CNPs) as ohmic
nanoelectrodes for intracellular recording of single cell. CNPs
recorded the electrical responses of cells to pharmacological
agents, the values of which matched well with predictions
from the Nernst equation. CNP are known to have the
advantages as they are less likely to break and clog compared
with conventional method as well as multifunctional cell
probing.[8]

Conclusion
It is shown that NW and NT based devices are powerful tools
in electrophysiological study targeting cells or tissues. With
their high sensitivity and resolution compared with
conventional method, evidently nanomaterial will be
increasingly important to
Biochemical research, disease diagnosis, pharmaceuticals
developing.

References
1

Quinonez, D. (1998). Common applications of electrophysiology

(EEG) in the past and today: the technologist's view.
Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 106(2),
pp.108-112.
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Journal Name
2

Brennecke, R. (1974). Theory of a membrane-voltage clamp with

discontinuous feedback through a pulsed current clamp. Rev. Sci.
Instrum., 45(2), p.184.
Galvn-Hernndez, A. and Ortega-Blake, I. (2015). Improved
Protocol for the Hydrophobization of Glass Pipettes for Use in
Patch-Clamp Experiments; Tera-Seals and Tenths of Fa Noise.
Biophysical Journal, 108(2), p.173a.
Li, J., Pud, S., Mayer, D. and Vitusevich, S. (2014). Advanced
fabrication of Si nanowire FET structures by means of a parallel
approach. Nanotechnology, 25(27), p.275302.

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ARTICLE
5

Gubbala, S., Thangala, J. and Sunkara, M. (2007). Nanowire-based

electrochromic devices. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells,
91(9), pp.813-820.
Kwiat, M., Stein, D. and Patolsky, F. (2013). Nanotechnology meets
electrophysiology. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 24(4),
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Javey, A., Nam, Friedman, R., Yan, H. and Lieber, C. (2007). Layerby-Layer Assembly of Nanowires for Three-Dimensional,
Multifunctional Electronics. Nano Letters, 7(3), pp.773-777.
Schrlau, M., Dun, N. and Bau, H. (2009). Cell Electrophysiology
with Carbon Nanopipettes. ACS Nano, 3(3), pp.563-568.

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