Microphysiometer Can Assess Bioterrorism Agents

A new device that monitors the metabolism of living cells in near real-time can analyze and defend against novel bioterrorism agents.

The device is a four-channel microphysiometer, a modification of an older device called the Cytosensor that measures changes in acidity in a small chamber holding between 100,000-1,000,000 individual cells. Researchers have added three additional sensors so they can simultaneously chart minute-by-minute variations in the concentrations of oxygen, glucose, and lactic acid, in addition to pH. This is important since the basic metabolism of a cell involves consuming oxygen and glucose and producing lactic and carbonic acid. So monitoring variations in these four chemicals allows researchers to quickly assess the impact that exposure to different chemicals have on the activity and health of small groups of cells.

In addition to its potential application for bioterrorism, the microphysiometer has potential applications in detecting and assessing the toxicity of environmental pollutants. The device consists of a series of reservoirs, switches, rotary pumps, and tiny chambers made from two thin membrane sheets that contain the cell colonies. The researchers have been using the device to study cell response to a number of different chemical and biologic agents, including pesticides and pollutants.

"So far we have been lucky that terrorists have used well-known biologic agents like anthrax and sarin gas,” said David Cliffel, assistant professor of chemistry at Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN, USA; www.vanderbilt.edu), who led the development group. But how will we respond if one of these groups uses recent advances in genetic engineering to produce an agent that is new and unknown?”

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